--- page_title: "NFS - Synced Folders" sidebar_current: "syncedfolder-nfs" --- # NFS In some cases the default shared folder implementations (such as VirtualBox shared folders) have high performance penalties. If you're seeing less than ideal performance with synced folders, [NFS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_File_System_%28protocol%29) can offer a solution. Vagrant has built-in support to orchestrate the configuration of the NFS server on the host and guest for you.

Windows users: NFS folders do not work on Windows hosts. Vagrant will ignore your request for NFS synced folders on Windows.

## Prerequisites Before using synced folders backed by NFS, the host machine must have `nfsd` installed, the NFS server daemon. This comes pre-installed on Mac OS X, and is typically a simple package install on Linux. Additionally, the guest machine must have NFS support installed. This is also usually a simple package installation away. If you're using the VirtualBox provider, you'll also need to make sure you have a [private network set up](http://docs.vagrantup.com/v2/networking/private_network.html). This is due to a limitation of VirtualBox's built-in networking. With VMware, you do not need this. ## Enabling NFS Synced Folders To enable NFS, just add the `type: "nfs"` flag onto your synced folder: ```ruby Vagrant.configure("2") do |config| # ... config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", type: "nfs" end ``` If you add this to an existing Vagrantfile that has a running guest machine, be sure to `vagrant reload` to see your changes. ## NFS Synced Folder Options NFS synced folders have a set of options that can be specified that are unique to NFS. These are listed below. These options can be specified in the final part of the `config.vm.synced_folder` definition, along with the `type` option. * `nfs_export` (boolean) - If this is false, then Vagrant won't modify your `/etc/exports` automatically and assumes you've done so already. * `nfs_udp` (boolean) - Whether or not to use UDP as the transport. UDP is faster but has some limitations (see the NFS documentation for more details). This defaults to true. * `nfs_version` (string | integer) - The NFS protocol version to use when mounting the folder on the guest. This defaults to 3. ## NFS Global Options There are also more global NFS options you can set with `config.nfs` in the Vagrantfile. These are documented below: * `functional` (bool) - Defaults to true. If false, then NFS won't be used as a synced folder type. If a synced folder specifically requests NFS, it will error. * `map_uid` and `map_gid` (int) - The UID/GID, respectively, to map all read/write requests too. This will not affect the owner/group within the guest machine itself, but any writes will behave as if they were written as this UID/GID on the host. This defaults to the current user running Vagrant. * `verify_installed` (bool) - Defaults to true. If this is false, then Vagrant will skip checking if NFS is installed. ## Specifying NFS Arguments In addition to the options specified above, it is possible for Vagrant to specify alternate NFS arguments when mounting the NFS share by using the `mount_options` key. For example, to use the `actimeo=2` client mount option: ``` config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", :nfs => true, :mount_options => ['actimeo=2'] ``` This would result in the following `mount` command being executed on the guest: ``` mount -o 'actimeo=2' 172.28.128.1:'/path/to/vagrantfile' /vagrant ``` You can also tweak the arguments specified in the `/etc/exports` template when the mount is added, by using the OS-specific `linux__nfs_options` or `bsd__nfs_options` keys. Note that these options completely override the default arguments that are added by Vagrant automatically. For example, to make the NFS share asynchronous: ``` config.vm.synced_folder ".", "/vagrant", :nfs => true, :linux__nfs_options => ['rw','no_subtree_check','all_squash','async'] ``` This would result in the following content in `/etc/exports` on the host (note the added `async` flag): ``` # VAGRANT-BEGIN: 21171 5b8f0135-9e73-4166-9bfd-ac43d5f14261 "/path/to/vagrantfile" 172.28.128.5(rw,no_subtree_check,all_squash,async,anonuid=21171,anongid=660,fsid=3382034405) # VAGRANT-END: 21171 5b8f0135-9e73-4166-9bfd-ac43d5f14261 ``` ## Root Privilege Requirement To configure NFS, Vagrant must modify system files on the host. Therefore, at some point during the `vagrant up` sequence, you may be prompted for administrative privileges (via the typical `sudo` program). These privileges are used to modify `/etc/exports` as well as to start and stop the NFS server daemon. If you don't want to type your password on every `vagrant up`, Vagrant uses thoughtfully crafted commands to make fine-grained sudoers modifications possible to avoid entering your password. Below, we have a couple example sudoers entries. Note that you may have to modify them _slightly_ on certain hosts because the way Vagrant modifies `/etc/exports` changes a bit from OS to OS. For OS X, sudoers should have this entry: ``` Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_ADD = /usr/bin/tee -a /etc/exports Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD = /sbin/nfsd restart Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_REMOVE = /usr/bin/sed -E -e /*/ d -ibak /etc/exports %admin ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: VAGRANT_EXPORTS_ADD, VAGRANT_NFSD, VAGRANT_EXPORTS_REMOVE ``` For Ubuntu Linux , sudoers should look like this: ``` Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_ADD = /usr/bin/tee -a /etc/exports Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_CHECK = /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server status Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_START = /etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_APPLY = /usr/sbin/exportfs -ar Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_REMOVE = /bin/sed -r -e * d -ibak /etc/exports %sudo ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: VAGRANT_EXPORTS_ADD, VAGRANT_NFSD_CHECK, VAGRANT_NFSD_START, VAGRANT_NFSD_APPLY, VAGRANT_EXPORTS_REMOVE ``` For Fedora Linux, sudoers might look like this (given your user belongs to the vagrant group): ``` Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_ADD = /usr/bin/tee -a /etc/exports Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_CHECK = /usr/bin/systemctl status nfs-server.service Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_START = /usr/bin/systemctl start nfs-server.service Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_NFSD_APPLY = /usr/sbin/exportfs -ar Cmnd_Alias VAGRANT_EXPORTS_REMOVE = /bin/sed -r -e * d -ibak /etc/exports %vagrant ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: VAGRANT_EXPORTS_ADD, VAGRANT_NFSD_CHECK, VAGRANT_NFSD_START, VAGRANT_NFSD_APPLY, VAGRANT_EXPORTS_REMOVE ``` ## Other Notes **Encrypted folders:** If you have an encrypted disk, then NFS very often will refuse to export the filesystem. The error message given by NFS is often not clear. One error message seen is ` does not support NFS`. There is no workaround for this other than sharing a directory which isn't encrypted.