NFS Server installation and configuration in CentOS 6.3, RHEL 6.3 and Scientific Linux 6.3

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NFS, Network File System, is a server-client protocol used for sharing files between linux/unix to unix/linux systems. NFS enables you to mount a remote share locally. You can then directly access any of the files on that remote share.

 Scenario

In this how-to I use two systems running with CentOS 6.3, but it will work on any based distros.

NFS Server IP Address : 192.168.1.250/24

NFS Client IP Address  : 192.168.1.251/24

1. Install NFS in Server system

[root@nfs ~]# yum install nfs* -y

 2. Start NFS service

[root@nfs ~]# service rpcbind start

Starting rpcbind:                                          [  OK  ]

[root@nfs ~]# service nfs start

Starting NFS services:                                     [  OK  ]

Starting NFS mountd:                                       [  OK  ]

Starting NFS daemon:                                       [  OK  ]

[root@nfs ~]# chkconfig rpcbind on

[root@nfs ~]# chkconfig nfs on

3. Install NFS in Client System

[root@client unixmen]# yum install nfs* -y

4. Start NFS service

[root@client unixmen]# service rpcbind start

[root@client unixmen]# service nfs start

[root@client unixmen]# chkconfig rpcbind on

[root@client unixmen]# chkconfig nfs on

5. Create shared directories in server

Create a shared directory named ‘/var/unixmen_share’ in server and let the client users to read and write files in that directory.

[root@nfs ~]# mkdir /var/unixmen_share 

[root@nfs ~]# chmod 755 /var/unixmen_share/

6. Export shared directory on NFS Server

Open /etc/exports file and add the entry as shown below

[root@nfs ~]# vi /etc/exports 

/var/unixmen_share/     192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_root_squash,no_all_squash)

 where,

/var/unixmen_share  – shared directory

192.168.1.0/24           – IP address range of clients

rw                               – Writable permission to shared folder

sync                            – Synchronize shared directory

no_root_squash          – Enable root privilege

no_all_squash             – Enable user’s authority

7. Restart the NFS service.

[root@nfs ~]# service nfs restart 

Shutting down NFS daemon:                                  [  OK  ] 

Shutting down NFS mountd:                                  [  OK  ] 

Starting NFS services:                                     [  OK  ] 

Starting NFS mountd:                                       [  OK  ] 

Starting NFS daemon:                                       [  OK  ]

 8. Mount the share directory in client

Create a mount point to mount the share directory ‘var/unixmen_local’ which we created in the earlier step 5.

[root@client unixmen]# mkdir /var/nfs_share

 Mount the share from server to client as shown below

[root@client unixmen]# mount -t nfs 192.168.1.250:/var/unixmen_share/ /var/nfs_share/ 

mount.nfs: Connection timed out 

 Probably it will show a connection timed out issue which means the firewall is blocking NFS server. To allow NFS server to access from the outbound, goto NFS server system and add the as shown below in the ‘etc/sysconfig/iptables’ file.

[root@nfs ~]# vi /etc/sysconfig/iptables
# Firewall configuration written by system-config-firewall
# Manual customization of this file is not recommended.
*filter
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m udp -p udp --dport 2049 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 2049 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m udp -p udp --dport 111 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 111 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m udp -p udp --dport 32769 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 32803 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m udp -p udp --dport 892 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 892 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m udp -p udp --dport 875 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 875 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m udp -p udp --dport 662 -j ACCEPT 
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 662 -j ACCEPT 
:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
-A INPUT -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
-A FORWARD -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-prohibited
COMMIT

Now restart the iptables service

[root@nfs ~]# service iptables restart
iptables: Flushing firewall rules: [ OK ]
iptables: Setting chains to policy ACCEPT: filter [ OK ]
iptables: Unloading modules: [ OK ]
iptables: Applying firewall rules: [ OK

Again mount the share in client system

[root@client unixmen]# mount -t nfs 192.168.1.250:/var/unixmen_share/ /var/nfs_share/ 

[root@client unixmen]# 

 Now the NFS share will mount without any connection timed out error.

9. Verify NFS

Verify the share from the server is mounted or not using ‘mount’ command.

[root@client unixmen]# mount

/dev/mapper/vg_client-lv_root on / type ext4 (rw)

proc on /proc type proc (rw)

sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)

devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)

tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,rootcontext="system_u:object_r:tmpfs_t:s0")

/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext4 (rw)

none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)

sunrpc on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)

nfsd on /proc/fs/nfsd type nfsd (rw)

192.168.1.250:/var/unixmen_share/ on /var/nfs_share type nfs (rw,vers=4,addr=192.168.1.250,clientaddr=192.168.1.251) 

10.  Automount the Shares

To mount the shares automatically instead of mounting them manually at every reboot, add the following lines shown in bold in the ‘/etc/fstab’ file of client system.

[root@client unixmen]# vi /etc/fstab
#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Sun Mar 3 22:10:15 2013
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or blkid(8) for more info
#

/dev/mapper/vg_client-lv_root / ext4 defaults 1 1
UUID=1aa7d041-056b-48f4-a773-f713759e981f /boot ext4 defaults 1 2
/dev/mapper/vg_client-lv_swap swap swap defaults 0 0
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
192.168.1.250:/var/unixmen_share/ /var/nfs_share/ nfs rw,sync,hard,intr 0 0

 Reboot the client system and check the share whether it is automatically mounted or not.

[root@client unixmen]# mount

/dev/mapper/vg_client-lv_root on / type ext4 (rw)

proc on /proc type proc (rw)

sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)

devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)

tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,rootcontext="system_u:object_r:tmpfs_t:s0")

/dev/sda1 on /boot type ext4 (rw)

none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)

sunrpc on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)

nfsd on /proc/fs/nfsd type nfsd (rw)

192.168.1.250:/var/unixmen_share/ on /var/nfs_share type nfs (rw,vers=4,addr=192.168.1.250,clientaddr=192.168.1.251) 

Thats it. Now NFS server is ready to use.

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