Mounting NFS Shares under Mac OS X

You can't really use /etc/fstab like a regular unix, everything in Mac OS X is done using the arguably wonderful NetInfo?. To mount an NFS share in a certain place under Mac OS X, and make sure it turns up every boot, do the following:

• Create a mount point (empty directory) on your Mac, say in /Network/hostname.
• Open the NetInfo? Manager tool, which is in /Applications/Utils. Unlock it by clicking the lock icon and entering your password.
• Click on the mounts directory.
• Create a new directory.
• Make the following properties (shift-cmd-N):

|< property |< value(s) |< name |< hostname:directory |< vfstype |< nfs |< dir |< /Network/hostname |< opts |< -P -s -b

Save this, go into a terminal and type sudo mount -a, and your share should appear in the directory you specified.

You might want to type man mount_nfs to learn more about the opts field.

Exporting NFS Shares under Mac OS X

• Go into the NetInfo? Manager, as above. Click on the exports dir.
• Create a new directory.
• Make the following properties (shift-cmd-N) to export with full permissions to your LAN for example.

|< name |< value(s) |< name |< directory to export |< clients |< client ips (leave blank if you want to limit to your entire LAN) |< opts |< maproot=root networ=192.168.0.0 mask = 255.255.255.0

• Save, and reboot. (or kill and restart nfsd)

You might want to see man exports for more information on opts.