nfsd

handles NFS requests from clients

TLDR

Start NFS server

$ sudo systemctl start nfs-server

Enable at boot

$ sudo systemctl enable nfs-server

Start with a specific number of threads

$ sudo rpc.nfsd [16]

Disable NFS version 3

$ sudo rpc.nfsd -N 3

Check NFS server status

$ sudo systemctl status nfs-server

Start with specific port and RDMA support

$ sudo rpc.nfsd -p [2049] -r

nfsd (NFS server daemon) handles NFS requests from clients. It implements the NFS protocol to share filesystems over the network.The number of threads determines how many concurrent requests can be handled.

PARAMETERS

nprocs

Number of server threads (default: 8).

-d, --debug

Debug mode.

-H, --host addr

Specify a particular hostname or address to accept NFS requests on. By default, all known network addresses are used.

-p, --port port

Specify a different port to listen on for NFS requests (default: 2049).

-r, --rdma [port]

Enable RDMA transport on the specified port (default: 20049).

-N, --no-nfs-version ver

Disable a specific NFS version (e.g., 3, 4, 4.1, 4.2).

-V, --nfs-version ver

Enable a specific NFS version.

-s, --syslog

Log error messages to syslog instead of stderr.

-t, --tcp

Listen on a TCP socket (default).

-T, --no-tcp

Disable TCP connections from clients.

-u, --udp

Listen on a UDP socket.

-U, --no-udp

Disable UDP connections from clients (default).

-L seconds, --lease-time seconds

Set the NFSv4 lease time (10–3600 seconds).

-G seconds, --grace-time seconds

Set the NFSv4/NLM grace period for reclaiming state.

-S scope, --scope scope

Set the NFSv4.1+ server scope identifier.

CONFIGURATION

$ /etc/exports              - Exported filesystems
/etc/nfs.conf            - NFS configuration
/etc/default/nfs-kernel-server  # Debian

EXPORTS FORMAT

$ # /etc/exports
/home 192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync,no_root_squash)
/data *(ro,sync)

CAVEATS

Requires rpcbind (except for NFSv4-only configurations). Firewall must allow NFS ports. NFSv4 uses a single port (2049). Security is managed through /etc/exports and optionally Kerberos authentication. The default of 8 threads should be tuned based on workload.

HISTORY

NFS was developed at Sun Microsystems by a team led by Russel Sandberg in 1984, becoming a foundational Unix network protocol.