Storage: NFS

Storage pool type: nfs

The NFS backend is based on the directory backend, so it shares most properties. The directory layout and the file naming conventions are the same. The main advantage is that you can directly configure the NFS server properties, so the backend can mount the share automatically. There is no need to modify /etc/fstab. The backend can also test if the server is online, and provides a method to query the server for exported shares.

Configuration

The backend supports all common storage properties, except the shared flag, which is always set. Additionally, the following properties are used to configure the NFS server:

server

Server IP or DNS name. To avoid DNS lookup delays, it is usually preferable to use an IP address instead of a DNS name - unless you have a very reliable DNS server, or list the server in the local /etc/hosts file.

export

NFS export path (as listed by pvesm nfsscan).

You can also set NFS mount options:

path

The local mount point (defaults to /mnt/pve/<STORAGE_ID>/).

content-dirs

Overrides for the default directory layout. Optional.

options

NFS mount options (see man nfs).

Configuration Example (/etc/pve/storage.cfg)

nfs: iso-templates
        path /mnt/pve/iso-templates
        server 10.0.0.10
        export /space/iso-templates
        options vers=3,soft
        content iso,vztmpl

After an NFS request times out, NFS request are retried indefinitely by default. This can lead to unexpected hangs on the client side. For read-only content, it is worth to consider the NFS soft option, which limits the number of retries to three.

Storage Features

NFS does not support snapshots, but the backend uses qcow2 features to implement snapshots and cloning.

Table 1. Storage features for backend nfs

Content types	Image formats	Shared	Snapshots	Clones
images rootdir vztmpl iso backup snippets	raw qcow2 vmdk	yes	qcow2	qcow2

Examples

You can get a list of exported NFS shares with:

# pvesm nfsscan <server>

See Also

• Storage