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I'm trying to share a directory over NFS:

  • Client: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
  • Server: Arch Linux x64

I have a directory called /data/authorized. I'd like to symlink other directories that are not in /data/authorized into /data/authorized. I tried doing so with both relative and absolute symlinks, but on the Windows client, the symlinks just don't show up. When I do this with a Linux client, the symlinks show up, but point to local directories, necessitating the use of relative symlinks.

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You can't do that with symlinks, but on Linux you might be able to use bind mounts. They essentially allow to attach part of the filesystem elsewhere. However, I'm not entirely sure how NFS interacts with them – I know they work, but you may need to add a exports entry for each.

mount --bind /srv/something /data/authorized/something

(In fstab, use fstype none and option bind.)

That being said, Samba is often a better option for Windows clients. As far as I know, Windows can't do Unicode over NFS and doesn't support proper authentication either (as in Kerberos or even the simplest user/password), both of which – and more – are supported by Samba and Windows SMB.

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  • A little unwieldy, but it gets the job done. I can probably automate the process with a few scripts to make it more manageable.
    – Samir Unni
    Jan 1, 2012 at 23:26
  • You can automate the process with /etc/fstab, mostly. Bind mounts are the usual way for doing complicated NFS exports.
    – u1686_grawity
    Jan 2, 2012 at 6:04

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