How To Set Up and Configure NFS on Ubuntu 16.04

Network File System (NFS) is a distributed filesystem protocol that allows you to access shared folders from remote systems over a network. NFS enables you to mount remote directories as if they were local, providing a seamless way to share storage space between multiple clients across different locations.

To complete this setup, you will need two Ubuntu 16.04 systems with sudo privileges connected via a private network ? one acting as the NFS server and another as the NFS client.

Installing NFS Server Package

On the server machine, install the nfs-kernel-server package which enables directory sharing capabilities.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nfs-kernel-server

This command installs the NFS kernel server along with required dependencies including nfs-common, rpcbind, and various Python libraries.

Installing NFS Client Package

On the client machine, install the nfs-common package which provides tools to access NFS shares.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install nfs-common

Creating and Configuring Shared Directories

We will create two types of NFS shares to demonstrate different permission configurations.

General Purpose Share

Create a shared directory accessible to all users with write permissions.

sudo mkdir /usr/nfs/common -p
sudo chown nobody:nogroup /usr/nfs/common

The nobody:nogroup ownership ensures that any user can read and write to this directory.

Home Directory Share

The existing /home directory will be shared to allow clients access to user home directories stored on the server.

Configuring NFS Exports

Edit the /etc/exports file to define which directories to share and their access permissions.

sudo vi /etc/exports

Add the following export configurations:

/usr/nfs/common 192.168.1.100(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)
/home 192.168.1.100(rw,sync,no_root_squash,no_subtree_check)

Export Options Explained

Restart the NFS service to apply the configuration changes:

sudo systemctl restart nfs-kernel-server

Mounting NFS Shares on Client

Create mount points on the client machine and mount the NFS shares.

sudo mkdir /mnt/common
sudo mkdir /mnt/home
sudo mount 192.168.1.100:/usr/nfs/common /mnt/common
sudo mount 192.168.1.100:/home /mnt/home

Verify that the shares are mounted correctly:

df -h

Filesystem                      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
...
192.168.1.100:/home            124G   11G  119G   9% /mnt/home
192.168.1.100:/usr/nfs/common  124G   11G  119G   9% /mnt/common

Automatic Mounting at Boot

To automatically mount NFS shares at system startup, add entries to the /etc/fstab file.

sudo vi /etc/fstab

Add the following lines at the end of the file:

192.168.1.100:/usr/nfs/common /mnt/common nfs auto,nofail,noatime,nolock,intr,tcp,actimeo=1800 0 0
192.168.1.100:/home /mnt/home nfs auto,nofail,noatime,nolock,intr,tcp,actimeo=1800 0 0

Unmounting NFS Shares

When you no longer need access to the NFS shares, unmount them using:

sudo umount /mnt/common
sudo umount /mnt/home

Conclusion

This setup demonstrates how to configure NFS on Ubuntu 16.04 with two different sharing scenarios ? a general-purpose share accessible to all users and a home directory share with restricted access. NFS provides an efficient way to share storage resources across network-connected systems while maintaining security through proper permission configuration.