To verify that NFS is running

Running NFS on the server depends on the portmapper daemon - called either portmap or rpc.portmap. In addition, there are 5 other daemons that are associated with the service:
  • rpc.nfsd
  • rpc.lockd
  • rpc.statd
  • rpc.mountd
  • rpc.rquotad
Most Linux distributions will have startup scripts for these daemons and typically they are found in /etc/init.d.
To check for these daemons, enter the following from a command prompt: 
ps aux | grep rpc
Depending on the rpc services running, the result of the ps command will be similar to the following: 
 rpc       3338  0.0  0.0   1816   552 ?        Ss   00:31   0:00 portmap
 root      3364  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        S<   00:31   0:00 [rpciod/0]
 root      3370  0.0  0.0   1868   744 ?        Ss   00:31   0:00 rpc.statd
 root      3394  0.0  0.0   5820   648 ?        Ss   00:31   0:00 rpc.idmapd
 root      3624  0.0  0.0   3940   248 ?        Ss   00:31   0:00 rpc.rquotad
 root      3652  0.0  0.0   1924   284 ?        Ss   00:31   0:00 rpc.mountd
 root      4359  0.0  0.0   3920   684 pts/2    R+   00:34   0:00 grep rpc
You can also check by using the rpcinfo command. From a command prompt, enter the following: 
usr/sbin/rpcinfo -p
The following sample output from this command demonstrates that nfs is running versions 2, 3 and 4. 
    program vers proto   port
    100000    2   tcp    111  portmapper
    100000    2   udp    111  portmapper
    100024    1   udp   1005  status
    100024    1   tcp   1008  status
    100011    1   udp    833  rquotad
    100011    2   udp    833  rquotad
    100011    1   tcp    836  rquotad
    100011    2   tcp    836  rquotad
    100003    2   udp   2049  nfs
    100003    3   udp   2049  nfs
    100003    4   udp   2049  nfs
    100021    1   udp  55689  nlockmgr
    100021    3   udp  55689  nlockmgr
    100021    4   udp  55689  nlockmgr
    100003    2   tcp   2049  nfs
    100003    3   tcp   2049  nfs
    100003    4   tcp   2049  nfs
    100021    1   tcp  39321  nlockmgr
    100021    3   tcp  39321  nlockmgr
    100021    4   tcp  39321  nlockmgr
    100005    1   udp    860  mountd
    100005    1   tcp    863  mountd
    100005    2   udp    860  mountd
    100005    2   tcp    863  mountd
    100005    3   udp    860  mountd
    100005    3   tcp    863  mountd

If you do not see entries for portmapper, nfs and mountd when you run the command on your own server installation, you will need to start the daemons.

The following table details files that are associated with the NFS service and the information they provide:
/etc/exports Information about how file systems should be exported by exportfs.
/var/lib/nfs/etab Information about what filesystems should be exported, to what user, and what level of security.
/var/lib/nfs/rmtab Lists filesystems that are currently mounted and by what clients.
/proc/fs/nfs/exports Information about filesystems that are currently exported to an actual client (not subnet).
/var/lib/nfs/xtab Contains the same information as /proc/fs/nfs/exports but is maintained by nfs-utils instead of directly by the kernel. It is only used if /proc is not mounted.
Parent topic: Using NFS