---
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.

<div class="alert alert-info">
	<p>
		<strong>Windows users:</strong> NFS folders do not work on Windows
		hosts. Vagrant will ignore your request for NFS synced folders on
		Windows.
	</p>
</div>

## 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.

## 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 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
```