How to create a file object for a file on Remote Server? UNIX

Question

Hi all,
I am working on two servers A and B. BOTH ARE UNIX MACHINES. My java class exist on server A and executes on same server. The file that I need to process resides on server B. (Lets call it test.txt in MYTEST directory. So path will be /MYTEST/test.txt on server B) I need to do few things before I can process it:
1) Check if file exist
2) If it does FTP it to Server A. (I already know how to.)
For both of these tasks, I need a File object for that file.
My problem is that I am unable to set it up.
\\B\MYTEST\test.txt will not work on UNIX. I already tried that. (It only works on Windows)
I tried:
/B/MYTEST/test.txt ---- Does not work
B:/MYTEST/test.txt ---- Does not work
:B/MYTEST/test.txt ---- Does not work
B:MYTEST/test.txt ---- Does not work
All of these instances say the same thing: "File does not exist."
Any ideas? Please help!!!
-Chirag

Answer 1

I by no means want to sound belittling... so don't take me that way..
You need to understand the basics of files, and networks. You can't check if a file exists on another machine if you don't have a network protocol to communicate with. The reason \\ works under windows is because you are using an invisible (to you) network protocol. You probably know it as windows sharing. If your file were not shared under it's own name, that method wouldn't work (I'm assuming your entire drive is shared without a password... a horrible security flaw...but one thing at a time)
You can use FTP protocol to check if a file exists. You can either send the raw text FTP commands through a socket connection in java, or you can use a freely available FTP java API to make it a bit more simple. You could also write a small java server on the other machine, and have it tell you what you need to know with a socket connection. In this way, you have created your very own network protocol.