The Network FileSystem (NFS)

In Chapter 2 , Managing the System Console, Loading files from the network section, we saw how to load a kernel image (with its DTB file) using an Ethernet connection, and we said that this feature is very useful during the kernel developing stages. Well, this feature is quite useless without the kernel's ability to use a filesystem located on another computer (usually the host PC) as a root filesystem, Simply speaking, instead of mounting a filesystem stored on a local disk or flash memory, the system mounts a remote filesystem using a network.

This allows the developer to test both the kernel, its drivers, and the whole root filesystem by downloading them from the network, avoiding the boring step to reprogram the mass memory devices (this actually saves a lot of the developer's time!).

Due to these reasons, this particular type of filesystem is called Network FileSystem (NFS).

Of course, we can use this feature over several different network connections, but...