Provided by: nfs-kernel-server_1.2.8-6ubuntu1.2_amd64 bug

NAME

       exports - NFS server export table

DESCRIPTION

       The  file  /etc/exports  contains  a table of local physical file systems on an NFS server
       that are accessible to NFS clients.  The contents  of  the  file  are  maintained  by  the
       server's system administrator.

       Each  file  system  in  this  table has a list of options and an access control list.  The
       table is used by exportfs(8) to give information to mountd(8).

       The file format is similar to the SunOS exports file. Each line contains an  export  point
       and a whitespace-separated list of clients allowed to mount the file system at that point.
       Each listed client may be immediately followed by a parenthesized, comma-separated list of
       export options for that client. No whitespace is permitted between a client and its option
       list.

       Also, each line may have one or more specifications for default  options  after  the  path
       name,  in the form of a dash ("-") followed by an option list. The option list is used for
       all subsequent exports on that line only.

       Blank lines are ignored.  A pound sign ("#") introduces a comment to the end of the  line.
       Entries  may  be  continued  across newlines using a backslash. If an export name contains
       spaces it should be quoted using double quotes. You  can  also  specify  spaces  or  other
       unusual  character  in the export name using a backslash followed by the character code as
       three octal digits.

       To apply changes to this file, run exportfs-ra or restart the NFS server.

   Machine Name Formats
       NFS clients may be specified in a number of ways:

       single host
              You may specify a host either by an abbreviated name recognized  be  the  resolver,
              the  fully  qualified  domain  name,  an  IPv4  address,  or  an IPv6 address. IPv6
              addresses must not be inside square brackets in /etc/exports lest they be  confused
              with character-class wildcard matches.

       IP networks
              You   can   also   export  directories  to  all  hosts  on  an  IP  (sub-)  network
              simultaneously. This is done by specifying  an  IP  address  and  netmask  pair  as
              address/netmask  where the netmask can be specified in dotted-decimal format, or as
              a contiguous mask length.  For example, either `/255.255.252.0' or  `/22'  appended
              to  the  network base IPv4 address results in identical subnetworks with 10 bits of
              host. IPv6 addresses must use a contiguous mask  length  and  must  not  be  inside
              square  brackets  to  avoid  confusion  with  character-class  wildcards.  Wildcard
              characters generally do not work on IP addresses, though they may work by  accident
              when reverse DNS lookups fail.

       wildcards
              Machine names may contain the wildcard characters * and ?, or may contain character
              class lists within [square brackets].  This can be used to make  the  exports  file
              more   compact;  for  instance,  *.cs.foo.edu  matches  all  hosts  in  the  domain
              cs.foo.edu.  As these characters also match the dots in a domain  name,  the  given
              pattern will also match all hosts within any subdomain of cs.foo.edu.

       netgroups
              NIS  netgroups may be given as @group.  Only the host part of each netgroup members
              is consider in checking for membership.  Empty host parts  or  those  containing  a
              single dash (-) are ignored.

       anonymous
              This  is  specified  by  a single * character (not to be confused with the wildcard
              entry above) and will match all clients.

       If a client matches more than one of the specifications above, then the first  match  from
       the  above list order takes precedence - regardless of the order they appear on the export
       line. However, if a client matches more than one of the same type of  specification  (e.g.
       two  netgroups),  then the first match from the order they appear on the export line takes
       precedence.

   RPCSEC_GSS security
       You may use the special strings "gss/krb5", "gss/krb5i", or "gss/krb5p" to restrict access
       to  clients  using  rpcsec_gss  security.   However,  this  syntax is deprecated; on linux
       kernels since 2.6.23, you should instead use the "sec=" export option:

       sec=   The sec= option, followed by a colon-delimited list of security flavors,  restricts
              the  export to clients using those flavors.  Available security flavors include sys
              (the  default--no  cryptographic  security),  krb5  (authentication  only),   krb5i
              (integrity  protection),  and  krb5p  (privacy  protection).   For  the purposes of
              security flavor negotiation, order  counts:  preferred  flavors  should  be  listed
              first.   The  order  of  the sec= option with respect to the other options does not
              matter, unless you want some  options  to  be  enforced  differently  depending  on
              flavor.   In that case you may include multiple sec= options, and following options
              will be enforced only for access using flavors listed in the immediately  preceding
              sec=  option.   The only options that are permitted to vary in this way are ro, rw,
              no_root_squash, root_squash, and all_squash.

   General Options
       exportfs understands the following export options:

       secure This option requires  that  requests  originate  on  an  Internet  port  less  than
              IPPORT_RESERVED  (1024).  This  option  is  on  by default. To turn it off, specify
              insecure.

       rw     Allow both read and write requests on this NFS volume. The default is  to  disallow
              any  request which changes the filesystem.  This can also be made explicit by using
              the ro option.

       async  This option allows the NFS server to violate the NFS protocol and reply to requests
              before any changes made by that request have been committed to stable storage (e.g.
              disc drive).

              Using this option usually improves performance, but at the  cost  that  an  unclean
              server restart (i.e. a crash) can cause data to be lost or corrupted.

       sync   Reply to requests only after the changes have been committed to stable storage (see
              async above).

              In releases of nfs-utils up to and  including  1.0.0,  the  async  option  was  the
              default.   In  all  releases  after  1.0.0,  sync is the default, and async must be
              explicitly requested if needed.  To help make system administrators aware  of  this
              change, exportfs will issue a warning if neither sync nor async is specified.

       no_wdelay
              This option has no effect if async is also set.  The NFS server will normally delay
              committing a write request to disc slightly if it  suspects  that  another  related
              write  request  may  be in progress or may arrive soon.  This allows multiple write
              requests to be  committed  to  disc  with  the  one  operation  which  can  improve
              performance.   If  an  NFS  server  received  mainly small unrelated requests, this
              behaviour could actually reduce performance, so no_wdelay is available to  turn  it
              off.  The default can be explicitly requested with the wdelay option.

       nohide This  option  is  based  on  the  option  of  the  same  name provided in IRIX NFS.
              Normally, if a server exports two filesystems one of which is mounted on the other,
              then  the  client  will  have to mount both filesystems explicitly to get access to
              them.  If it just mounts the parent, it will see an empty directory  at  the  place
              where the other filesystem is mounted.  That filesystem is "hidden".

              Setting  the  nohide  option  on  a  filesystem  causes it not to be hidden, and an
              appropriately authorised client will be able  to  move  from  the  parent  to  that
              filesystem without noticing the change.

              However, some NFS clients do not cope well with this situation as, for instance, it
              is then possible for two files in the one apparent  filesystem  to  have  the  same
              inode number.

              The  nohide option is currently only effective on single host exports.  It does not
              work reliably with netgroup, subnet, or wildcard exports.

              This option can be very useful in some situations, but it should be used  with  due
              care,  and  only  after  confirming that the client system copes with the situation
              effectively.

              The option can be explicitly disabled with hide.

       crossmnt
              This option is similar to nohide but it makes it possible for clients to move  from
              the  filesystem  marked  with crossmnt to exported filesystems mounted on it.  Thus
              when a child filesystem "B" is mounted on a parent "A", setting crossmnt on "A" has
              the same effect as setting "nohide" on B.

       no_subtree_check
              This  option  disables  subtree checking, which has mild security implications, but
              can improve reliability in some circumstances.

              If a subdirectory of a filesystem is exported, but the whole filesystem isn't  then
              whenever  a  NFS  request arrives, the server must check not only that the accessed
              file is in the appropriate filesystem (which is easy) but also that it  is  in  the
              exported tree (which is harder). This check is called the subtree_check.

              In  order to perform this check, the server must include some information about the
              location of the file in the "filehandle" that is given to  the  client.   This  can
              cause  problems  with accessing files that are renamed while a client has them open
              (though in many simple cases it will still work).

              subtree checking is also used to make sure that files inside directories  to  which
              only  root  has  access  can  only  be  accessed if the filesystem is exported with
              no_root_squash (see below), even if the file itself allows more general access.

              As a general guide, a home directory filesystem, which is normally exported at  the
              root  and  may  see  lots of file renames, should be exported with subtree checking
              disabled.  A filesystem which is mostly readonly, and at  least  doesn't  see  many
              file  renames  (e.g.  /usr  or  /var) and for which subdirectories may be exported,
              should probably be exported with subtree checks enabled.

              The default of having subtree checks enabled,  can  be  explicitly  requested  with
              subtree_check.

              From  release  1.1.0  of nfs-utils onwards, the default will be no_subtree_check as
              subtree_checking tends to cause more problems than it is worth.  If  you  genuinely
              require  subtree  checking,  you  should  explicitly put that option in the exports
              file.  If you put neither option,  exportfs  will  warn  you  that  the  change  is
              pending.

       insecure_locks

       no_auth_nlm
              This  option  (the  two  names  are synonymous) tells the NFS server not to require
              authentication of locking requests (i.e. requests  which  use  the  NLM  protocol).
              Normally the NFS server will require a lock request to hold a credential for a user
              who has read access to  the  file.   With  this  flag  no  access  checks  will  be
              performed.

              Early  NFS  client implementations did not send credentials with lock requests, and
              many current NFS clients still exist which are based on  the  old  implementations.
              Use this flag if you find that you can only lock files which are world readable.

              The  default  behaviour  of  requiring  authentication  for  NLM  requests  can  be
              explicitly requested with either of the synonymous auth_nlm, or secure_locks.

       mountpoint=path

       mp     This option makes it possible to only export a directory  if  it  has  successfully
              been  mounted.   If no path is given (e.g.  mountpoint or mp) then the export point
              must also be a mount point.  If it isn't then the export  point  is  not  exported.
              This allows you to be sure that the directory underneath a mountpoint will never be
              exported by accident if, for example, the filesystem failed to mount due to a  disc
              error.

              If  a  path  is  given (e.g.  mountpoint=/path or mp=/path) then the nominated path
              must be a mountpoint for the exportpoint to be exported.

       fsid=num|root|uuid
              NFS needs to be able to identify each filesystem that it exports.  Normally it will
              use  a  UUID  for the filesystem (if the filesystem has such a thing) or the device
              number of the device holding the filesystem (if the filesystem  is  stored  on  the
              device).

              As  not  all filesystems are stored on devices, and not all filesystems have UUIDs,
              it is sometimes necessary to explicitly tell NFS  how  to  identify  a  filesystem.
              This is done with the fsid= option.

              For  NFSv4,  there  is a distinguished filesystem which is the root of all exported
              filesystem.  This is specified with fsid=root or fsid=0 both of which mean  exactly
              the same thing.

              Other  filesystems  can  be identified with a small integer, or a UUID which should
              contain 32 hex digits and arbitrary punctuation.

              Linux kernels version 2.6.20 and earlier do not understand the UUID  setting  so  a
              small  integer  must  be  used  if an fsid option needs to be set for such kernels.
              Setting both a small number and a UUID is supported so the same  configuration  can
              be made to work on old and new kernels alike.

       refer=path@host[+host][:path@host[+host]]
              A  client  referencing  the  export point will be directed to choose from the given
              list an alternative location for the filesystem.  (Note that the server must have a
              mountpoint  here,  though  a different filesystem is not required; so, for example,
              mount --bind /path /path is sufficient.)

       replicas=path@host[+host][:path@host[+host]]
              If the client asks for alternative locations for the export point, it will be given
              this  list of alternatives. (Note that actual replication of the filesystem must be
              handled elsewhere.)

   User ID Mapping
       nfsd bases its access control to files on the server machine on the uid and  gid  provided
       in  each  NFS  RPC request. The normal behavior a user would expect is that she can access
       her files on the server just as she would on a normal file system. This requires that  the
       same uids and gids are used on the client and the server machine. This is not always true,
       nor is it always desirable.

       Very often, it is not desirable that the root user on a client machine is also treated  as
       root  when  accessing  files on the NFS server. To this end, uid 0 is normally mapped to a
       different id: the so-called anonymous or nobody uid. This mode of operation (called  `root
       squashing') is the default, and can be turned off with no_root_squash.

       By  default, exportfs chooses a uid and gid of 65534 for squashed access. These values can
       also be overridden by the anonuid and anongid options.  Finally,  you  can  map  all  user
       requests to the anonymous uid by specifying the all_squash option.

       Here's the complete list of mapping options:

       root_squash
              Map requests from uid/gid 0 to the anonymous uid/gid. Note that this does not apply
              to any other uids or gids that might be equally sensitive,  such  as  user  bin  or
              group staff.

       no_root_squash
              Turn off root squashing. This option is mainly useful for diskless clients.

       all_squash
              Map  all  uids  and  gids to the anonymous user. Useful for NFS-exported public FTP
              directories, news spool directories, etc. The  opposite  option  is  no_all_squash,
              which is the default setting.

       anonuid and anongid
              These options explicitly set the uid and gid of the anonymous account.  This option
              is primarily useful for PC/NFS clients, where you might want all requests appear to
              be  from  one  user.  As an example, consider the export entry for /home/joe in the
              example section below, which maps all requests to uid 150 (which is supposedly that
              of user joe).

   Extra Export Tables
       After  reading /etc/exports exportfs reads files under /etc/exports.d.  directory as extra
       export tables.  exportfs regards only a file which name is ended  with  .exports  and  not
       started  with  .   as an extra export file. A file which name is not met this condition is
       just ignored.  The format for extra export tables is the same as /etc/exports

EXAMPLE

       # sample /etc/exports file
       /               master(rw) trusty(rw,no_root_squash)
       /projects       proj*.local.domain(rw)
       /usr            *.local.domain(ro) @trusted(rw)
       /home/joe       pc001(rw,all_squash,anonuid=150,anongid=100)
       /pub            *(ro,insecure,all_squash)
       /srv/www        -sync,rw server @trusted @external(ro)
       /foo            2001:db8:9:e54::/64(rw) 192.0.2.0/24(rw)
       /build          buildhost[0-9].local.domain(rw)

       The first line exports the entire filesystem to machines master and trusty.   In  addition
       to  write  access,  all  uid squashing is turned off for host trusty. The second and third
       entry show examples for wildcard hostnames and netgroups (this is the  entry  `@trusted').
       The  fourth line shows the entry for the PC/NFS client discussed above. Line 5 exports the
       public FTP directory to every host in the world, executing all requests under  the  nobody
       account.  The  insecure  option in this entry also allows clients with NFS implementations
       that don't use a reserved port for NFS.  The sixth line exports a directory read-write  to
       the  machine  'server'  as  well  as  the  `@trusted'  netgroup, and read-only to netgroup
       `@external', all three mounts with the `sync' option enabled. The seventh line  exports  a
       directory  to  both  an  IPv6 and an IPv4 subnet. The eighth line demonstrates a character
       class wildcard match.

FILES

       /etc/exports /etc/exports.d

SEE ALSO

       exportfs(8), netgroup(5), mountd(8), nfsd(8), showmount(8).

                                         31 December 2009                              exports(5)