NFS

Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system protocol allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer network much like local storage is accessed.

Install and configure NFS

Note: The following is for the NFS master and client running on CentOS 6.

• Assumptions:
  • Master IP: 192.168.200.204
  • Client IP: 192.168.200.203

Setup the master

• Install the following NFS packages:

$ yum install nfs-utils nfs-utils-lib

• Start services and make them persistent:

$ chkconfig nfs on 
$ service rpcbind start
$ service nfs start

• Add the following line to /etc/exports:

/data	192.168.200.203(rw,sync,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check)

• Export the /data path:

$ exportfs -a

Setup the client

• Install the following NFS packages:

$ yum install nfs-utils nfs-utils-lib

• Create the directory that will contain the NFS shared files:

$ mkdir -p /mnt/nfs/data

• Mount the NFS share:

$ mount 192.168.200.204:/data /mnt/nfs/data

• Check that it is mounted:

$ df -h
$ mount | grep nfs
sunrpc on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)
192.168.200.204:/data on /mnt/nfs/data type nfs (rw,vers=4,addr=192.168.200.204,clientaddr=192.168.200.203)

Test the NFS mount

• On the client:

$ echo "Hello, world" > /mnt/nfs/data/helloworld

• On the master

$ cat /data/helloworld
Hello, world

It works.

• Make the NFS mount persistent by adding the following line to the client's /etc/fstab:

192.168.200.204:/data   /mnt/nfs/data   nfs   auto,noatime,nolock,bg,nfsvers=3,intr,tcp,actimeo=1800 0 0

External links

• RFC 5661