Demo Working With Network Attached Storage

In this lesson you’ll learn to connect to an NFS server, mount a remote export on a client, verify access, and make the mount persistent across reboots so your network storage remains available.

By the end of this walkthrough you’ll understand how to extend a system’s storage using NFS, validate the mount, and ensure the export is re-mounted automatically on boot.

Step 1 — Verify connectivity to the NFS server

First, confirm the client can reach the NFS server over the network. Replace the example IP with your server’s address (here: 10.0.2.15).

root@control:/# ping -c 4 10.0.2.15
PING 10.0.2.15 (10.0.2.15) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.0.2.15: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=9.83 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.2.15: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.591 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.2.15: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.584 ms
64 bytes from 10.0.2.15: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.617 ms

--- 10.0.2.15 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3074ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.584/2.904/9.825/3.995 ms
root@control:/#

If ping fails, check routing, firewall rules, or that the NFS server is running and reachable on the expected network.

Network connectivity and appropriate firewall rules (e.g., allowing NFS/RPC ports) are required before mounting. Ensure you have administrative privileges on the client to create mount points and perform mounts.

Step 2 — Create a mount point on the client

Create the directory where the remote export will be mounted. Use -p to avoid errors if the parent exists already.

root@control:/# mkdir -p /mountnfs

Mount the remote export. In this example the server export path is /srv/nfs/share/nfs-lab on host 10.0.2.15.

root@control:/# mount -t nfs 10.0.2.15:/srv/nfs/share/nfs-lab /mountnfs

Validate the mount by checking the list of mounted filesystems for the mount point:

root@control:/# mount | grep /mountnfs
10.0.2.15:/srv/nfs/share/nfs-lab on /mountnfs type nfs4 (rw,relatime,vers=4.2,rsize=262144,wsize=262144,hard,proto=tcp,sec=sys,addr=10.0.2.15)

Quick access tests:

# list files on the NFS export
root@control:/# ls -l /mountnfs

# create a small test file to verify write access (if permitted)
root@control:/# touch /mountnfs/.$(date +%s)-test

The mount command above performs a runtime (ephemeral) mount. It remains until unmounted or the system reboots. To ensure automatic mounting after reboot, add the export to /etc/fstab with appropriate options.

Step 4 — Make the mount persistent by editing /etc/fstab

Add an entry to /etc/fstab so the NFS share is mounted automatically on boot. Common and useful NFS mount options include _netdev, nofail, and vers=. Example /etc/fstab entry (server: 10.0.2.15, export: /srv/nfs/share/nfs-lab, mount point: /mountnfs):

10.0.2.15:/srv/nfs/share/nfs-lab    /mountnfs      nfs    defaults,_netdev,nofail,vers=4 0 0

After saving /etc/fstab, apply mounts without rebooting:

# if currently mounted, unmount first
root@control:/# umount /mountnfs

# re-evaluate fstab and mount all entries
root@control:/# mount -a

Confirm the persistent mount is active:

root@control:/# mount | grep /mountnfs
10.0.2.15:/srv/nfs/share/nfs-lab on /mountnfs type nfs4 (rw,relatime,vers=4.2,rsize=262144,wsize=262144,hard,proto=tcp,sec=sys,addr=10.0.2.15)

Common NFS mount options

Option	Purpose	Example usage
`_netdev`	Delay mount until network is available (recommended for network filesystems)	`defaults,_netdev`
`nofail`	Allow boot to continue even if the mount fails	`nofail`
`vers=`	Force NFS protocol version (e.g., 3 or 4)	`vers=4` or `vers=3`
`rsize=` / `wsize=`	Set read/write buffer sizes for performance tuning	`rsize=262144,wsize=262144`
`ro` / `rw`	Mount read-only or read-write	`rw`

Step 5 — Summary and considerations

Use _netdev to avoid attempting to mount network filesystems before network interfaces are up.
Use nofail so booting continues when the remote share is unavailable.
Force vers= if your server requires a specific NFS protocol version.
Adjust rsize/wsize, locking, and security options (sec=) as required by your environment and workload.
If you need automount behavior rather than static fstab entries, consider systemd automount units or autofs for on-demand mounting.

References and further reading

NFS overview: https://nfs.sourceforge.io/ (or your distro’s NFS docs)
fstab(5) manual: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/fstab.5.html
mount(8) manual: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/mount.8.html

This completes the lesson on mounting an NFS share and making the mount persistent across reboots.

Introduction

Working with the Command Line

File Management

Working with Text Files

Output Redirection

User Management

Linux Permissions

Enhanced Command Line

Storage Management

Managing Services

Controlling the Boot Process

Scheduling Future Tasks

Working with Logs

Installing Software

Process Management & Tuning

Managing Network Configuration and Security

SELinux

Configuring SSH

Demo Working With Network Attached Storage

Step 1 — Verify connectivity to the NFS server

Step 2 — Create a mount point on the client

Step 4 — Make the mount persistent by editing /etc/fstab

Common NFS mount options

Step 5 — Summary and considerations

References and further reading

Watch Video

​Step 1 — Verify connectivity to the NFS server

​Step 2 — Create a mount point on the client

​Step 3 — Mount the NFS share manually (runtime)

​Step 4 — Make the mount persistent by editing /etc/fstab

​Common NFS mount options

​Step 5 — Summary and considerations

​References and further reading

Watch Video

Step 1 — Verify connectivity to the NFS server

Step 2 — Create a mount point on the client

Step 3 — Mount the NFS share manually (runtime)

Step 4 — Make the mount persistent by editing /etc/fstab

Common NFS mount options

Step 5 — Summary and considerations

References and further reading