Install NFS Server on Ubuntu 22.04

This article is going to take you through on how to Install NFS Server on Ubuntu 22.04. The Network File System (NFS) is a client/server program that allows a computer user to access, store, and update files on a remote computer. NFS is one of several Distributed File System (DFS) standards for network attached storage (NAS).

How to Install NFS Server on Ubuntu 22.04

Update your packages to current version.

sudo apt update

Then set host name

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname nfs.example.com --static

Install NFS Server

After updating your packages and setting up host name, you can now install NFS server using the following command.

sudo apt install nfs-kernel-server

Sample output

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  fonts-open-sans gir1.2-gnomebluetooth-1.0 i965-va-driver
  intel-media-va-driver kwayland-data libaacs0 libavcodec58
  libavformat58 libavutil56 libbdplus0 libbluray2
  libchromaprint1 libcodec2-1.0 libdouble-conversion3
  libgme0 libgsm1 libigdgmm12 libkf5waylandclient5 libmd4c0
  libmfx1 libminizip1 libmng2 libnorm1 libopenal-data
  libopenal1 libopenmpt0 libpcre2-16-0 libpgm-5.3-0
  libqrcodegencpp1 libqt5core5a libqt5dbus5 libqt5gui5
  libqt5network5 libqt5svg5 libqt5waylandclient5
  libqt5widgets5 librabbitmq4 librlottie0-1 libshine3
  libsndio7.0 libsrt1.4-gnutls libssh-gcrypt-4
  libswresample3 libswscale5 libudfread0 libva-drm2
  libva-x11-2 libva2 libvdpau1 libx264-163 libxcb-record0
  libxcb-screensaver0 libxcb-xinerama0 libxcb-xinput0
  libxvidcore4 libzmq5 libzvbi-common libzvbi0
  mesa-va-drivers mesa-vdpau-drivers qt5-gtk-platformtheme
  qt5-image-formats-plugins qttranslations5-l10n
  va-driver-all vdpau-driver-all
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove them.
The following additional packages will be installed:
  keyutils libevent-core-2.1-7 libnfsidmap1 nfs-common
  rpcbind
Suggested packages:
  open-iscsi watchdog
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  keyutils libevent-core-2.1-7 libnfsidmap1 nfs-common
  nfs-kernel-server rpcbind
0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 616 kB of archives.
After this operation, 2,235 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] y
Get:1 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 libevent-core-2.1-7 amd64 2.1.12-stable-1build3 [93.9 kB]
Get:2 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 libnfsidmap1 amd64 1:2.6.1-1ubuntu1 [43.5 kB]
Get:3 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 rpcbind amd64 1.2.6-2build1 [46.6 kB]
Get:4 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 keyutils amd64 1.6.1-2ubuntu3 [50.4 kB]
Get:5 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 nfs-common amd64 1:2.6.1-1ubuntu1 [241 kB]
Get:6 http://ke.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy/main amd64 nfs-kernel-server amd64 1:2.6.1-1ubuntu1 [140 kB]
Fetched 616 kB in 1s (986 kB/s)

NFS should be up and running, check its status.

  sudo systemctl status nfs-server

Sample output

● nfs-server.service - NFS server and services
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nfs-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: active (exited) since Thu 2022-04-14 12:25:10 EAT; 2min 36s ago
   Main PID: 8868 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
        CPU: 8ms

Apr 14 12:25:10 nfs.itnixpro.com systemd[1]: Starting NFS server and services...
Apr 14 12:25:10 nfs.itnixpro.com exportfs[8867]: exportfs: can't open /etc/exports for reading
Apr 14 12:25:10 nfs.itnixpro.com systemd[1]: Finished NFS server and services.

Setup NFS directory share

The NFS directory share is where we will store files that will be shared across the local area network. It will be created under the /mnt/directory_name, lets create the directory using the following command.

sudo mkdir /mnt/my_data

Next, assign ownership and permissions

sudo chown nobody:nogroup /mnt/my_data
sudo chmod -R 777 /mnt/my_data

Configure Exports for client

Edit the exports configuration file to allow client access. Open the exports file using the following command.

sudo nano /etc/exports

Add client that can access the NFS server using the following line in the config file. Note, you can add several lines with different clients IP to add more clients.

/mnt/my_data CLIENT-IP(rw,sync,no_subtree_check)

Command above meaning;

rw-Read and Write )
sync-Write changes to disk before applying them)
no_subtree_check-Avoid subtree checking )

Next export the shared directory using the following command.

sudo exportfs -a

Allow NFS Share Access on Firewall

If you are using firewall, allow NFS using the following command.

sudo ufw allow from 192.168.0.101/24 to any port nfs

By default NFS runs on port 2049, reload firewall to apply changes.

sudo ufw reload

Then check status using the command below.

sudo ufw status

Install and Configure NFS Client

Start by updating your client packages.

sudo apt update

Then install NFS client package using the command below.

sudo apt install nfs-common

Mounting NFS Share on the Client

Create directory using the following command which will be used to mount the NFS share from the NFS server.

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/client_directory

After creating the mount directory, mount the remote NFS share directory using the command below.

sudo mount SERVER-IP:/mnt/my_data /mnt/client_directory

Test NFS Share

On the NFS server, navigate to your directory share and create a test file.

cd /mnt/my_data
touch nfs_demo.txt

Then on your client machine, list content of mounted share directory.

ls /mnt/client_directory

You should be able to see the contents of server share in the client directory.

That marks the end of our article, Cheers! You have learned how to Install NFS Server on Ubuntu 22.04.

Read more about NFS commands in the man page