{"id":195,"date":"2020-09-26T13:20:38","date_gmt":"2020-09-26T13:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/?p=195"},"modified":"2026-06-09T14:57:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:57:33","slug":"nfs-and-samba-simplified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/?p=195","title":{"rendered":"NFS Server and Client on Ubuntu"},"content":{"rendered":"

The choice between NFS and Samba depends on who you are sharing with. Linux supports both NFS and Samba, but Windows only supports Samba.<\/p>\n

To learn about Samba file sharing, read the following post: SAMBA Server and Client on Ubuntu (18.04~24.04 LTS)<\/strong> [Link<\/a>].<\/p>\n

\n

SERVER – NFS CONFIG<\/strong><\/p>\n

sudo apt update\r\nsudo apt install nfs-kernel-server rpcbind -y\r\nsudo ufw allow nfs\r\nsudo nano \/etc\/exports<\/pre>\n
Add this line at the end of the file:<\/p>\n
\/home\/ubuntu 192.168.2.0\/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)<\/pre>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Customize the line to match your network:<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n
\/home\/ubuntu<\/td>\nThe directory being shared<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
192.168.2.0\/24<\/td>\nYour network ID<\/strong> (check your network).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
rw<\/td>\nRead and Write<\/strong> (ro would be Read Only<\/em>).<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n
To find your network address, run:<\/p>\n
hostname -I<\/pre>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Ignore any IP starting with ‘127<\/strong>‘. Use the first three octets of your IP to replace ‘192.168.2<\/strong>‘.<\/p>\n
sudo systemctl restart nfs-kernel-server\r\nsudo systemctl status nfs-kernel-server<\/pre>\n
OR<\/p>\n
sudo service nfs-kernel-server restart\r\nsudo service nfs-kernel-server status<\/pre>\n
Once the service is running, apply any changes made to \/etc\/exports<\/strong> with:<\/p>\n
sudo exportfs -ra<\/pre>\n
To check the shares on an NFS server locally:<\/p>\n
showmount -e<\/pre>\n
\n
CLIENT – NFS MOUNT<\/strong><\/p>\n
sudo apt update\r\nsudo apt install nfs-common -y<\/pre>\n
Check connectivity:<\/p>\n
showmount -e 192.168.2.40<\/pre>\n
To mount a remote share to a local directory:<\/p>\n
sudo mount 192.168.2.40:\/home\/ubuntu \/tmp\/file-server<\/pre>\n
Customize the command to match your network:<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n
192.168.2.40<\/td>\nIP address of the server<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/home\/ubuntu<\/td>\nThe directory being shared<\/strong> on the server.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/tmp\/file-server<\/td>\nLocal mount point<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n
The directory ‘\/tmp\/file-server<\/strong>‘ must exist on the local file system. If it does not, run:<\/p>\n
sudo mkdir \/tmp\/file-server\r\nsudo chmos 755 \/tmp\/file-server<\/pre>\n
To unmount the share from the local computer:<\/p>\n
sudo umount \/tmp\/file-server<\/pre>\n
To automatically mount on boot<\/strong>:<\/p>\n
sudo nano \/etc\/fstab<\/pre>\n
Add this line at the end of the file:<\/p>\n
192.168.2.40:\/home\/ubuntu \/tmp\/file-server nfs auto,nofail,noatime,nolock,intr,tcp,actimeo=1800 0 0<\/pre>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n
Customize the line to match your network:<\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
192.168.2.40<\/td>\nIP address of the server<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/home\/ubuntu<\/td>\nThe directory being shared<\/strong> on the server.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\/tmp\/file-server<\/td>\nLocal mount point<\/strong>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
nfs<\/td>\nSpecifies the protocol ‘nfs<\/strong>‘.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
auto,nofail,noatime,nolock,
\nintr,tcp,actimeo=1800 0 0<\/td>\n		Keep these arguments as they are.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/figure>\n
Restart the client<\/strong> and verify that the share was automatically mounted.<\/p>\n
\n
BONUS<\/strong><\/p>\n
For mobile systems such as laptops, traditional NFS mounts block I\/O when the server becomes unreachable (e.g., when you leave home), which can cause the system to hang. AutoFS<\/strong> is a more robust solution for intermittent connectivity [Link<\/a>].<\/p>\n
sudo apt install autofs -y\r\necho '\/mnt\/ \/etc\/auto.nfs --timeout=120' | sudo tee -a \/etc\/auto.master\r\nsudo nano \/etc\/auto.nfs<\/pre>\n
Add entries following the example below.<\/p>\n
sharemount -fstype=nfs4,rw,soft,intr,timeo=5,retrans=2 192.168.1.10:\/export\/share<\/pre>\n
Reload the configuration.<\/p>\n
sudo systemctl restart autofs<\/pre>\n
Note:<\/strong> a directory called \/mnt\/sharemount<\/code> will be created, and the remote share will be mounted automatically whenever you access that path.<\/p>\n
ls \/mnt\/sharemount<\/pre>\n
Or<\/p>\n
cd \/mnt\/sharemount<\/pre>\n
Then verify.<\/p>\n
df -h | grep \/mnt\/sharemount<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The choice between NFS and Samba depends on who you are sharing with. Linux supports […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-linux","category-raspberry-pi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5847,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions\/5847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dft.wiki\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}