Configuring the Network File System (NFS)

Setting export access permissions

An NFS server can specify, for each filesystem exported, which client hosts or netgroups may mount that filesystem and whether each specified client has read-write or read-only permission when accessing that filesystem:

``Read-write'' means users on the client machine may write to the filesystem.
``Read-only'' means users on the client machine may not write to the filesystem.

Read-write and read-only permissions are usually granted in combinations; for example, a calendar server may be viewed by many read-only clients, but only a few read-write clients have schedule permissions. The Filesystem Manager allows you to specify permissions to All systems, Selected systems, or None; four combinations are allowed:

Read-only Read-Write

none all

selected none

all none

all selected

When a specific client host is granted permissions, you can also grant ``root-access'' for that host. This means root users on specified client systems retain their root privileges when accessing the remote filesystem, while root users on other systems do not. To grant client permissions, select the desired Read-only and/or Read-write permissions in the (NFS) Add Export Configuration menu of the Filesystem Manager.

Read-only	Read-Write
none	all
selected	none
all	none
all	selected

To grant permissions to selected systems:

From the Export menu, select NFS, then select Add Export Configuration.
Choose a filesystem to grant permissions for, either by entering its name or by using the Select button to bring up the filesystem selection dialog.
Choose to export the selected filesystem as read-only to All systems, Selected systems, or no systems (None).
If you choose Selected systems, press Select and:
- Add clients to the export list by pressing Add clients. Enter one or more client or netgroup names or select them from the list shown when you press Select.
- Remove clients from the export list by highlighting them from the list and pressing Remove clients.
- Add or remove root privileges by highlighting a client name and pressing Add root privilege or Remove root privilege.
Press OK when finished modifying the selected clients.
Choose to export the selected filesystem as read-write to All systems, Selected systems, or no systems (None).
If you choose Selected systems, press Select and:
- Add clients to the export list by pressing Add clients. Enter one or more client or netgroup names or select them from the list shown when you press Select.
- Remove clients from the export list by highlighting them from the list and pressing Remove clients.
- Add or remove root privileges by highlighting a client name and pressing Add root privilege or Remove root privilege.
Press OK when finished modifying the selected clients.
Click on OK to save the configuration.

NOTE: If you manually enter a client name, you should enter it as a fully qualified name, for example: nairobi.your_company.COM. If you do not use the fully qualified domain name, the Filesystem Manager attempts to expand the name for you. However, this expansion fails if the same machine name exists in multiple subnets in your domain (such as nairobi.your_company.COM and nairobi.engr.your_company.COM. In this case, you must enter the fully qualified name.