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14 - NFS Setup

Date: 2026-02-11 Updated: 2026-03-14 (fix ordering cycle in automount units) Hostname: pve IP address: 192.168.0.109

Overview

NFS is used in both directions:

  • Proxmox → LAN: exports the media storage pool so Nobara (and others) can mount it
  • Nobara → Proxmox: exports a backup HDD so Proxmox can rsync LXC backups onto it

Proxmox as NFS Server

Proxmox exports its storage to the local network.

Install NFS server

apt update
apt install nfs-kernel-server

/etc/exports

/mnt/storage 192.168.0.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,fsid=1)
/mnt/disk1 192.168.0.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,fsid=2)
/mnt/disk2 192.168.0.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,fsid=3)
/mnt/disk3 192.168.0.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,fsid=4)
/mnt/disk4 192.168.0.0/24(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash,fsid=5)

Apply and verify

exportfs -a
systemctl restart nfs-server
exportfs -v

Enable NFS server at boot

systemctl enable nfs-server

Note: the service name is nfs-server (not nfs-kernel-server) on recent Debian/Proxmox versions.

Nobara PC as NFS Server (backup target)

Nobara exports its backup HDD so Proxmox can rsync LXC dump files onto it.

Nobara /etc/exports

/mnt/hdd/Backup 192.168.0.109(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,no_root_squash)

Only the Proxmox host (192.168.0.109) has access - not the whole LAN.

Apply on Nobara

sudo exportfs -ra

Proxmox mounts it in /etc/fstab

192.168.0.100:/mnt/hdd/Backup /mnt/pve/nobara-backup nfs soft,timeo=30,retrans=3,_netdev,x-systemd.automount 0 0
  • soft + timeo=30 + retrans=3 - times out gracefully if Nobara is offline, does not freeze Proxmox
  • x-systemd.automount - mounts on first access, not at boot

Nobara as NFS Client (mounts Proxmox storage)

Do not use /etc/fstab for these mounts. Hard fstab NFS entries freeze Nobara's boot if Proxmox is offline. Use systemd automount instead.

Install NFS client on Nobara

sudo dnf install nfs-utils

Create mount points

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/storage /mnt/disk1 /mnt/disk2 /mnt/disk3 /mnt/disk4

Create systemd mount + automount units

Run as root (sudo -i) to avoid heredoc indentation issues:

for share in storage disk1 disk2 disk3 disk4; do
cat > /etc/systemd/system/mnt-${share}.mount << EOF
[Unit]
Description=NFS /mnt/${share} from Proxmox
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Mount]
What=192.168.0.109:/mnt/${share}
Where=/mnt/${share}
Type=nfs
Options=noauto,nfsvers=4,soft,timeo=30,retrans=3,_netdev

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
cat > /etc/systemd/system/mnt-${share}.automount << EOF
[Unit]
Description=Automount /mnt/${share}

[Automount]
Where=/mnt/${share}
TimeoutIdleSec=600

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF
done

Enable and start

systemctl daemon-reload
systemctl enable --now mnt-storage.automount mnt-disk1.automount mnt-disk2.automount mnt-disk3.automount mnt-disk4.automount

Verify

ls /mnt/storage
df -h | grep mnt/

The first ls triggers the automount. All 5 shares should appear in df -h.

How it works

  • The .automount unit watches the directory
  • First access triggers the mount automatically
  • After 600 seconds (10 min) of inactivity it unmounts
  • If Proxmox is offline: soft + timeo=30 + retrans=3 means mount attempt times out after ~90 seconds - Nobara does not freeze

Nobara SSHFS Mount (LXC 109 claude-mgmt)

Nobara mounts /root from LXC 109 (claude-mgmt) via SSHFS. NFS server cannot run inside an unprivileged LXC, so SSHFS is used instead.

Prerequisites

Root's SSH key on Nobara must be in LXC 109's authorized_keys. Since LXC 109 has password auth disabled, add it via the existing user key:

sudo ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f /root/.ssh/id_ed25519 -N ""
sudo cat /root/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | ssh root@192.168.0.204 "cat >> /root/.ssh/authorized_keys"

Also add LXC 109 to root's known_hosts on Nobara:

sudo ssh-keyscan 192.168.0.204 | sudo tee -a /root/.ssh/known_hosts

Create mount point

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/claudemgmt

Note: no hyphen in claudemgmt - systemd unit file names encode hyphens as \x2d which causes shell escaping issues.

Create systemd mount + automount units

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/mnt-claudemgmt.mount << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=SSHFS /root from LXC 109 claude-mgmt
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Mount]
What=root@192.168.0.204:/root
Where=/mnt/claudemgmt
Type=fuse.sshfs
Options=noauto,_netdev,allow_other,IdentityFile=/root/.ssh/id_ed25519,reconnect,ServerAliveInterval=15,ServerAliveCountMax=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/mnt-claudemgmt.automount << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=Automount /mnt/claudemgmt

[Automount]
Where=/mnt/claudemgmt
TimeoutIdleSec=600

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Enable and start

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now mnt-claudemgmt.automount
ls /mnt/claudemgmt

Should show: homelab learning youtube

Notes

  • fsid= is required for non-root filesystem exports on Proxmox
  • no_root_squash allows root access from the client
  • Nobara runs NFSv4 only (no rpcbind) - showmount -e will fail from Proxmox, but mounts work fine
  • Nobara is not always on - the soft mount on Proxmox ensures it never freezes the host
  • If NFS shares stop working after a Proxmox reboot: check systemctl status nfs-server on the Proxmox host - it may need systemctl start nfs-server
  • Automount units must not have After=network-online.target - this creates an ordering cycle with local-fs.target on Fedora/Nobara and causes the unit to silently fail at boot. Network dependency belongs only in the .mount unit, not the .automount unit. Access-triggered automounts work correctly without it since the network is already up when the user first accesses the path.