NFS HOWTO

I have put this HOWTO together from various sources which I will list at the end. I will discuss the process of setting up a server and using a client.

Getting the Packages

On Debian type systems you can install the the packages as shown below:

sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server nfs-common portmap

Configuring portmap

Do not bind portmap to the loopback. If you need to reconfigure the portmap run the next two commands to restart the servers.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure portmap
sudo /etc/init.d/portmap restart

Configuring NFS

Edit the /etc/export file.

The following line will permit all 254 C class addresses on the private net to access this mount.

/home 192.168.1.1/24(rw,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check,async)

This line will permit all 65534 C class addresses on the private net to access this mount.

/home 192.168.0.0/16(rw,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check,async)

You must execute the following commands after any edit to the /etc/export file.

sudo /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server restart
sudo exportfs -a

Installing Just the Client Software

sudo apt-get install portmap nfs-common

Manual Mounting

First make a mount point on your remote machine where you want this mount to be located.

cd /
sudo mkdir -p shares/home

This will mount your /home directory to /share/home on the remote machine.

sudo mount -t nfs myserver.mydomain.org:/home /shares/home

You may not need the -t nfs in the above command.

You will need to restart the servers below:

sudo /etc/init.d/portmap restart
sudo /etc/init.d/nfs-common restart

Auto Mounting

Edit /etc/fstab.

myserver.mydomain.org:/home /shares/home nfs rsize=8192,wsize=8192,timeo=14,intr

Look at the mount manual page for other mounting options.

To test you edit by typing in a terminal the following:

mount /shares/home

I would not recommend auto mounting on a wireless network since the system will try to mount your shares before the network is up.

Useful Links

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=249889

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/NFS-HOWTO/