NAME

       /etc/nbdtab - configuration file for nbd-client

SYNOPSIS

       /etc/nbdtab

DESCRIPTION

       This  file  allows  to  configure  predefined  connections  for nbd-client. It may contain
       multiple definitions, one per line, each of which contains four space-separated fields.

       To connect a device specified in the nbdtab file, run nbd-client(8) with the short name of
       that device as the sole argument. It will then look up the required information in nbdtab,
       and make the connection.

       Fields are separated from one another by any number of space or  tab  characters;  records
       are separated from one another by newline characters. The file may also contain any number
       of comments, which start with a '#' character and continue until the end of  the  line  or
       the end of the file, whichever is first.

   FIELDS
       The file contains the following fields:

       1. The  short  name  of the device file. That is, it should contain the name of the device
          without the leading /dev/ part; e.g., it could say nbd0.

       2. The hostname (in case of a TCP socket) or filename (in case of a unix domain socket) on
          which the server is listening.

       3. The name of the export as exported by nbd-server.

       4. Any  extra  options. This field is optional (no pun intended), and need not appear in a
          file if no options are necessary. The options recognized by nbd-client(8) are specified
          below,  in  the  section  "Options".  Any  unknown options in this field will produce a
          warning by nbd-client, unless they are prepended by an underscore ('_') character;  the
          underscore is specifically reserved for local use, or for distribution customization.

   OPTIONS
       Every  command-line  nbd-client  option  which  allows to configure specific options for a
       particular device node has a corresponding option in the  nbdtab  file,  and  vice  versa;
       where this isn't the case, that is a bug.

       Individual  options  in  this  field  should  be  separated  from one another by the comma
       character.

       bs=block size
              The block size for this export. If this option is not used,  the  kernel's  default
              will be used instead.

              Corresponds to the -b option on the command line.

       conns=number
              The  number of connections to use for this device.  Corresponds to the -C option on
              the command line; see nbd-client(8) for more details on that option.

       port=port number
              The port on which to communicate with the nbd-server. Defaults to the IANA-assigned
              port for NBD, 10809.

       timeout=timeout
              The timeout. If this option is not specified, no timeout is configured.

              Corresponds to the -t option on the command line.

       persist
              Persist the connection, using the semantics of the -p command-line option.

       swap   Optimize for swap; -s.

       sdp    Use the Socket Direct protocol; -S.

       unix   Use a Unix Domain socket to connect to the server; -u.

SEE ALSO

       nbd-server (1), nbd-client (8), nbd-trdump (8)

AUTHOR

       The  NBD  kernel  module  and  the  NBD  tools  were  originally  written  by Pavel Machek
       (pavel@ucw.cz)

       The Linux kernel module is now maintained by Paul  Clements  (Paul.Clements@steeleye.com),
       while the userland tools are maintained by Wouter Verhelst (<wouter@debian.org>)

       On  The  Hurd  there  is  a regular translator available to perform the client side of the
       protocol, and the use of nbd-client is not required. Please see the relevant documentation
       for more information.

       This  manual  page  was  written  by Wouter Verhelst (<wouter@debian.org>).  Permission is
       granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General
       Public License, version 2, as published by the Free Software Foundation.

EXAMPLES

       A simple nbdtab file could look like this:

       # swap space, called "swapexport" on the server
       # optimize for swap, and try to reconnect upon disconnect.
       nbd0 nbdserver.example.com swapexport swap,persist
       # other export, called "data" on the server. No options for this one.
       nbd1 nbdserver.example.com data

                         : 2006-10-18 15:01:57 +0200 (wo, 18 okt 2006) $                NBDTAB(5)