Managing your NFS on VMware Multi-Tenant

It seems that no matter how much storage is available, you could always use more. Additionally, there are times when you would like to share data between multiple servers and there is no efficient way to do so. Now, with our VMware Multi-Tenant system, you have the ability to add an NFS (Network File Share) to your VDC (Virtual Data Center) to meet your storage and flexibility needs.

What is an NFS?

NFS stands for Network File Share. Basically, the NFS is an add-on storage device that can be accessed by any server on a given network. Since the VDC functions as a self-contained network, you can attach the NFS to any of the servers in the VDC. This allows you to easily move data from one server to another or even consolidate data from multiple servers into a single location (for instance, keeping local copies of backups from all of the servers in a single NFS).

NOTE:

This add-on feature is only available on Linux Core or Unmanaged systems at this time.

Using an NFS on VMware Multi-Tenant

Since the NFS requires a specific setup process, our Support Team will do the initial setup and configuration of your NFS. Contact our Solutions Team to see if an NFS is the right fit for your infrastructure. Once the NFS has been set up on your VDC, you can mount (or attach) it to any of the eligible servers in your VMware environment.

Mounting an NFS using Linux Command Line

To mount an NFS share to a Linux server for a single boot, you can use the following command:

mount  $IP:/$volName   $mountPoint

To mount an NFS share to a Linux server that will be persistent across restarts, add the following commands to the fstab file

in /etc/fstab:

$ip:/$volName    $mountPoint   nfs   defaults,nofail  0 0

mount -a

NOTE:

In both examples, $IP is the IP address of the NFS; $volName is the directory on the NFS that is being shared; and $mountPoint refers to the directory as it appears on the server. For example, if the NFS had an IP of 10.0.0.1, a directory at /data/backups and it was being mounted to the server as /NFS/backups, the command would be

10.0.0.1:/data/backups    /NFS/backups   nfs   defaults,nofail  0 0

mount -a

Un-Mounting an NFS using Linux Command Line

At times, you may want to remove an NFS from one server and connect it to a different server. To disconnect an NFS from a server, you must “unmount” the drive. You can do this by executing the following command:

umount $mountPoint

Verifying an NFS Volume

To verify details of an NFS volume, simply run the following command:

mount | grep nfs

Using an NFS Volume

Once mounted, an NFS volume can be used like any other drive attached to the server. Because of transfer speeds, NFS volumes are best used for static data and backups, rather than actively changing data on your server. Additionally, beyond setup, the NFS add-on is considered a Self-Managed product in your VMware environment and Liquid Web can only provide limited support beyond creation and setup. Setup for NFS does include the addition of certain firewall rules to allow for connectivity, so minor changes will be made to your VDC firewall at the time of the NFS creation.

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