Set up a NFS server

In this section, we will learn how to set up a NFS server on cPouta.

We will demonstrate a simple tutorial on how to create your NFS server with two services:

NFS Kernel Server

This is the built‑in NFS server available in all major Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Rocky, AlmaLinux, etc.).

Why choose it?

• Stable, widely used, production‑proven

• Easy to install and configure

• Perfect for simple shared storage or lab environments

• Works well as long as performance and scale needs are moderate

NFS Ganesha

NFS‑Ganesha is a full NFS server that runs in userspace rather than kernel space.

Why choose it?

• Supports NFSv3, NFSv4.1, NFSv4.2

• Can export many backend types, including:

  • POSIX filesystems

  • CephFS

  • GlusterFS

  • S3‑like object storage (via FSAL plugins)

• Hot‑reloadable configuration

• Good for scale‑out deployments

NFS Kernel Server

Server side

Access from the outside

This tutorial shows how to set up the access in a private network, typically two (or more) Pouta machines in the same CSC project. If you want to access the NFS server from the outside, don't forget to create a Security Groups that allows the port 2049. It might be also necessary if your machines have a Floating IP associated.

Note

The following commands were executed on Ubuntu 24.04 and AlmaLinux 9.

1. Create and attach a volume on your machine, then use the volume into your machine. For our example, the mount point will be named /srv/nfs4

2. Update the system and install the nfs-kernel-server package. For Ubuntu, run

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
   sudo apt install nfs-kernel-server -y
   

   For AlmaLinux, run

   sudo dnf install -y nfs-utils
   

3. Enable the service

   sudo systemctl enable --now nfs-server
   

4. Edit /etc/exports and add this line:

   /srv/nfs4 192.168.1.0/24(rw,fsid=0,no_subtree_check,crossmnt)
   

   • 192.168.1.0/24: allow the clients in this IP range
   • rw: allow read and write
   • fsid=0: designate the exported root (mandatory for NFSv4).
   • no_subtree_check: disable the verification of the exported subtree (recommended)
   • crossmnt: allow the NFS server to include the nested mount points within the exported directory, so clients can access the mounted file systems inside the exported path.

5. Save and exit. Apply the configuration:

   sudo exportfs -ra # or sudo systemctl restart nfs-server
   

6. Verify the exports

   sudo exportfs -v
   

Client side

1. Update the system and install the nfs-common package. For Ubuntu, run

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
   sudo apt install nfs-common -y
   

   For AlmaLinux, run

   sudo dnf install nfs-utils
   

2. Create the mount point

   sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nfs/share # For example
   

3. Mount manually

   sudo mount <server_ip_address>:/srv/nfs4 /mnt/nfs/share
   

   a. You can mount with some optimised parameters

   sudo mount -o rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,nconnect=4,noatime <server_ip_address>:/srv/nfs4 /mnt/nfs/share/
   

   • rsize=1048576: set the read block size to 1 MB (to be tested depending on bandwidth)
   • wsize=1048576: same but the write block
   • nconnect=4: open 4 parallels TCP connections for transfer (useful on low-latency networks)
   • noatime: remove the update of the access date with each read, reducing disk writes

   Info

   You may need to add the 'insecure' option to allow macOS clients to access the share.

4. You can test the Read/Write performance

   dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nfs/share/testfile bs=1M count=100 oflag=direct
   

   The recommended way is to add the mount point in the /etc/fstab file:

   <server_ip_address>:/ /srv/nfs4 nfs4 defaults,noatime,tcp,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,nconnect=4 0 0
   

   If your client reboot, it will be automatically mounted

NFS Ganesha

Server side

Access from the outside

This tutorial shows how to set up the access in a private network, typically two (or more) Pouta machines in the same CSC project. If you want to access the NFS server from the outside, don't forget to create a Security Groups that allows the port 2049. It might be also necessary if your machines have a Floating IP associated.

Note

The following commands were executed on Ubuntu 24.04 and AlmaLinux 9.

1. Create and attach a volume on your machine, then use the volume into your machine. For our example, the mount point will be named /srv/nfs4

2. Update the system and install the nfs-ganesha and nfs-ganesha-vfs packages. For Ubuntu, run

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
   sudo apt install -y nfs-ganesha nfs-ganesha-vfs
   

   For AlmaLinux, run

   sudo dnf install -y centos-release-nfs-ganesha4
   sudo dnf install -y nfs-ganesha nfs-ganesha-vfs
   

3. Make a copy of the default config

   sudo cp /etc/ganesha/ganesha.conf /etc/ganesha/ganesha.conf.ORI
   

4. Edit the configuration file

   sudo vi /etc/ganesha/ganesha.conf
   
   ## These are core parameters that affect Ganesha as a whole.
   NFS_CORE_PARAM {
           ## Allow NFSv3 to mount paths with the Pseudo path, the same as NFSv4,
           ## instead of using the physical paths.
           mount_path_pseudo = true;
   }
   
   ## Configure an export for some file tree
   EXPORT
   {
           ## Export Id (mandatory, each EXPORT must have a unique Export_Id)
           Export_Id = 1;
   
           ## Exported path (mandatory)
           Path = /srv/nfs4;
   
           ## Pseudo Path (required for NFSv4 or if mount_path_pseudo = true)
           Pseudo = /nfs;
   
           ## Restrict the protocols that may use this export.  This cannot allow
           ## access that is denied in NFS_CORE_PARAM.
           Protocols = 3,4;
   
           ## Access type for clients.  Default is None, so some access must be
           ## given. It can be here, in the EXPORT_DEFAULTS, or in a CLIENT block
           Access_Type = RW;
   
           ## Whether to squash various users.
           Squash = root_squash;
   
           ## Allowed security types for this export
           Sectype = sys;
   
           ## Exporting FSAL
           FSAL {
                   Name = VFS;
           }
   
           ## You can make custom rules for certain clients (R, W, RW)
           CLIENT {
                   Clients = 192.168.1.0/24;
                   Access_Type = RW;
           }
   }
   
   ## Configure logging.  Default is to log to Syslog.  Basic logging can also be
   ## configured from the command line
   LOG {
           ## Default log level for all components
           Default_Log_Level = WARN;
   }
   

   This is a basic configuration. You can browse through the configuration file and customise it to your liking.

5. On AlmaLinux, the repository only provides the repo-configuration package, not the actual Ganesha service unit or daemon. You need to create it

   sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/ganesha.service
   
   [Unit]
   Description=NFS-Ganesha NFS server
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=forking
   PIDFile=/run/ganesha/ganesha.pid
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/ganesha.nfsd -f /etc/ganesha/ganesha.conf -L /var/log/ganesha/ganesha.log -p /run/ganesha/ganesha.pid
   ExecReload=/bin/kill -HUP $MAINPID
   Restart=on-failure
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target
   

   Save, exit and reload

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable —-now ganesha
   

6. Verify the exports

   showmount -e localhost
   

Client side

1. Update the system and install the nfs-common package. For Ubuntu, run

   sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
   sudo apt install nfs-common -y
   

   For AlmaLinux, run

   sudo dnf install nfs-utils
   

2. Create the mount point

   sudo mkdir -p /mnt/nfs/share # For example
   

3. Mount manually. Since we are using mount_path_pseudo = true in the ganesha server, you must mount the share using the mount pseudo (nfs)

   sudo mount <server_ip_address>:/nfs /mnt/nfs/share
   

   a. You can mount with some optimised parameters

   sudo mount -o rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,nconnect=4,noatime <server_ip_address>:/nfs /mnt/nfs/share/
   

   • rsize=1048576: set the read block size to 1 MB (to be tested depending on bandwidth)
   • wsize=1048576: same but the write block
   • nconnect=4: open 4 parallels TCP connections for transfer (useful on low-latency networks)
   • noatime: remove the update of the access date with each read, reducing disk writes

   Info

   You may need to add the 'insecure' option to allow macOS clients to access the share.

4. You can test the Read/Write performance

   dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt/nfs/share/testfile bs=1M count=100 oflag=direct
   

   The recommended way is to add the mount point in the /etc/fstab file:

   <server_ip_address>:/ /nfs nfs4 defaults,noatime,tcp,rsize=1048576,wsize=1048576,nconnect=4 0 0
   

   If your client reboot, it will be automatically mounted

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