NFS may be ugly, but it sure works to share files. On rare occasions I have needed to get some information about an NFS server, but I didn't have access to the server itself. On even more rare occasions, I don't even have root access on the client machine. nfsshell is a tool that allows you to explore an NFS server from userspace. It is definitely worth keeping in mind if you play with NFS. It can do all sorts of fun stuff, but today I used it to discover what paths a server exports:
nfs> host ececfinas Open ececfinas.uwaterloo.ca (129.97.106.90) TCP nfs> export Export list for ececfinas.uwaterloo.ca: /share everyone
With that information, I was able to mount the /share directory and continue working, without having to bother anyone else.