Overview

Network File Storage (NFS) is a fully managed, high-availability shared storage service for your VMs. It provides SSD-backed, encrypted-by-default file storage available over a private network using NFSv4.2, with no data transfer charges between storage and compute. Fine-grained Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) permissions at file and directory levels let you control access precisely.

IONOS CLOUD Network File Storage Architecture

You provision a Virtual Data Center (VDC) through the DCD, API, or SDKs. VMs within the VDC connect over a private LAN to an NFS cluster, and each cluster contains one or more shares, individual file systems such as app-data, media, backups, or an unattached logs share that VMs mount to store and access files.

During cluster creation, you must specify an IP address from your LAN for the cluster. The specified IP address is used as a floating IP address for the two VMs that NFS uses to provide high availability.

Each cluster can contain multiple shares within it. Shares are individual file systems within the storage. For example, you can imagine it as a cluster being a computer and shares are folders within it that are accessed by VMs. An administrator can allow VMs to use specific shares.

VMs on the same private network can connect to the NFS cluster. In addition, data can be accessed simultaneously from multiple compute instances (for example, VMs, and containers) without compromising data consistency. Multiple VMs from within the VDC can access the data simultaneously.

IONOS CLOUD manages maintenance operations, such as software updates and hardware replacement, by offering redundant, high-availability cluster services.

NFS clusters automatically use NIC Multi-Queue, distributing network traffic across multiple queues based on available CPU cores to improve throughput and reduce latency. No configuration is required.

You can also integrate it with Kubernetes clusters to provide persistent storage for containerized workloads.

How do I set up NFS?

1. Create a cluster: Specify a name, location, size, and datacenter LAN. For more information, see Define cluster properties and Associate a Data Center LAN with the cluster.
2. Create a share: Define share properties and client groups within the cluster. For more information, see Define share properties and Add Client Groups.
3. Mount the share: Mount the share on a Linux VM using the cluster's IP address and the share's UUID. For more information, see Mount an NFS share on a Linux machine.