Linux NFS Export / share directory to other UNIX / Linux computer

NFS (Network file system) is both a protocol and file system for accessing and sharing file systems across a computer network using UNIX and Linux. NFS v4 is used in modern Linux distributions. It offers performance improvements, mandates strong security, and introduces a stateful protocol etc.

How do I export a directory with NFS?
NFS server configuration

In order to export or share directory called /data2, you need to edit a file called /etc/exports. The file /etc/exports serves as the access control list for file systems which may be exported to NFS clients.:

# vi /etc/exportsAdd config directive as follows:/data2 *(rw,sync)

Each line contains an export point and a whitespace-separated list of clients allowed to mount the file system at that point. Each listed client may be immediately followed by a parenthesized, comma-separated list of export options for that client.

Where,

rw - Allow both read and write requests on /data2 NFS volume
sync - Reply to requests only after the changes have been committed to stable storage

Save and close the file. Restart the nfs service:# /etc/init.d/nfs restart

NFS client configuration

Client computer need to mount file system using mount command or /etc/fstab file, enter:

# mkdir /mnt/nfs# mount -t nfs4 nfsserver-name-or-ip:/data2 /mnt/nfs

Read the man page for more configuration options:

$ man exports