📁 How to Configure NFS Server and Client on Linux

NFS (Network File System) is a protocol that allows file sharing between systems over a network. This guide shows you how to configure an NFS server and a client on Ubuntu-based systems.

🖥️ NFS Server Setup

1. Install NFS server

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nfs-kernel-server

2. Create shared directory

sudo mkdir /nfs_share
sudo chown nobody:nogroup /nfs_share
sudo chmod 777 /nfs_share

You can replace /nfs_share with any folder you want to share.

3. Export the directory

Edit the file /etc/exports and add:

/nfs_share 192.168.1.10(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)

📌 192.168.1.10 — IP address of the NFS client.

4. Export and start the NFS service

sudo exportfs -a
sudo systemctl enable nfs-kernel-server
sudo systemctl start nfs-kernel-server

💻 NFS Client Setup

1. Create mount point

sudo mkdir /mnt/nfs_share

2. Mount the NFS share

sudo mount -t nfs 192.168.1.100:/nfs_share /mnt/nfs_share  

📌 Replace 192.168.1.100 with the IP of your NFS server.

3. Auto-mount on boot

Add the following line to /etc/fstab:

192.168.1.100:/nfs_share /mnt/nfs_share nfs defaults 0 0

🛠️ Useful Tips

• Use showmount -e 192.168.1.100 on the client to list exported NFS directories.
• Check NFS service logs with journalctl -u nfs-server for troubleshooting.
• Make sure the firewall allows NFS-related ports (e.g., 2049/tcp).