Manually Entering a URL

When you enter a URL in the Server Address field, the Finder calls the File Manager to mount the server volume (FSMountServerVolumeAsync). This extracts the URL scheme (the text before the colon) and uses that to load and run the appropriate URLMount plug-in. The structure of a URLMount plug-in is not publicly documented (r. 3502170) .

Browsing

When you click the Browse button, the Finder opens a window that displays the contents of /Network. This directory is actually a mount point which automount populates using the NSL map. automount generates the NSL map by calling Network Service Location to find all network file system services. NSL does this by calling Open Directory (the Directory Services API), which in turn passes the job off to one or more of its plug-ins (as configured by the Directory Access utility).

The problem here is that, when automount searches for services using NSL, it searches for a fixed set of service types (URL schemes) (r. 2888560) . This list is currently afp, smb, cifs, nfs, webdav, and ftp. As your URL scheme does not appear in this list, your servers will not appear in /Network.

Workaround

The only workaround currently available is for you to write a custom application that allows the user to mount your file system. Your custom application can support manually entering a URL, browsing, or any other mechanism appropriate for your product.

If you are developing a network file system that's affected by this issue, please contact DTS and let us know about your development efforts.