Set Up Windows 2003 R2 NFS Server for VMware ESXi Backups
Generally my preference is to use Linux as an NFS server. On the internet you will see frequent reference to the belief that NFS works better on Linux/UNIX. Recently I decided to try and set up NFS services on Windows to see how well it would perform. In this tutorial I will set up Services for UNIX 3.5 on a Windows 2003 R2 server and configure it using the User Name Mapping service to allow a VMware ESXi to use it as a datastore for VMs or backups via non-anonymous connections.
First off grab the Windows Services for UNIX (SFU) installation files here. Extract the files from the download file and run the setup.
Click Next.
Select Custom Installation and click Next.
Under NFS select Client for NFS and Server for NFS for installation. Although in the image I have not unselected them you can unselect all the other UNIX utilities.
Scroll down and under Authentication tools for NFS select User Name Mapping to be installed. Again this and Client/Server NFS should be the only three options that need to be installed. Click Next.
Click Next.
Select Local Mapping Server, and select Password and group files. Click Next.
Now go to Windows Explorer and create a directory to store the password and group lists from the VMware ESXi host.
In this example I will create a directory C:\SFU for the password/group files. Unfortunately SFU will install the program files into this directory and will delete the password/group files, so after the install is completed you’ll need to recopy the files here. They do need to be placed here initially so the installer will find them. Or obviously you could use a different directory for the password/group files.
Thank you, I’ve just setup it on my server!
If it can help someone: I had some problems regarding “RPC Port Mapper was unable to register on port 111. RPC Port Mapper was unable to start.”
It was caused by “ONC/RPC PortMapper Service” installed by Qlogic FC card. I disabled it.
Thank you so much for the advice, manzamanna!
Dear Aron… Is this Windows NFS Server just a cost saving thing?
What do you use to backup the vmdk’s?
I am looking for a cheap option here as well.
thank you cheers Dave
Hi Dave,
I think I tried the Windows NFS server just to see how well it would work. From what I recall I didn’t have any major issues. Actually at the moment I use a Linux NFS server to store the backups of my VMware vSphere/ESXi based virtual machines. Details on setting one up can be found here:
http://aaronwalrath.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/configure-nfs-server-v3-and-v4-on-scientific-linux-6-and-red-hat-enterprise-linux-rhel-6/
I also use a free script created by William Lam that runs on ESXi that performs the actual backup to an NFS device. It works very well for me.
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760
In addition, William has also written a Perl based script that runs on the VSphere Management Assistant appliance to perform backups of all the VMs in your vSphere infrastructure as well.
Best,
Aaron