NBDTAB(5)

💖 NAME 💖 — NBDTAB(5): /etc/nbdtab, the config file for nbd-client

okay so bestie, this is /etc/nbdtab, the configuration file for nbd-client. That's the whole NAME vibe, but the rest of this page is where the actual useful tea lives. 🫖✨

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

/etc/nbdtab

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

This file lets you set up predefined connections for nbd-client. It can hold multiple definitions, one per line, and each line contains four space-separated fields. Lowkey iconic.

To connect a device specified in the nbdtab file, run nbd-client(8) with the short name of that device as the sole argument. It will then look up the required information in nbdtab, and make the connection. Slay. 💅

Fields are separated from one another by any number of space or tab characters; records are separated from one another by newline characters. The file may also contain any number of comments, which start with a '#' character and continue until the end of the line or the end of the file, whichever is first. No cap.

🎀 FIELDS 🎀

The file contains these fields:

1. The short name of the device file. That is, it should contain the name of the device without the leading /dev/ part; e.g., it could say nbd0. 🎀
2. The hostname (in case of a TCP socket) or filename (in case of a unix domain socket) on which the server is listening. 🦋
3. The name of the export as exported by nbd-server. 👑
4. Any extra options. This field is optional (no pun intended), and need not appear in a file if no options are necessary. The options recognized by nbd-client(8) are specified below, in the section "Options". Any unknown options in this field will produce a warning by nbd-client, unless they are prepended by an underscore ('_') character; the underscore is specifically reserved for local use, or for distribution customization. 💀✨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

Every command-line nbd-client option which allows to configure specific options for a particular device node has a corresponding option in the nbdtab file, and vice versa; where this isn't the case, that is a bug. not a vibe, a bug. 🐛

Individual options in this field should be separated from one another by the comma character. 🍓

• bs=block size — The block size for this export. If this option is not used, the kernel's default will be used instead. Corresponds to the -b option on the command line. 💖
• cacertfile=certificate file — The CA certificate file for TLS. Corresponds to the -A option on the command line. 🔥
• certfile=certificate file — The certificate file for TLS. Corresponds to the -F option on the command line. 🌸
• conns=number — The number of connections to use for this device. Corresponds to the -C option on the command line; see nbd-client(8) for more details on that option. 🦋
• keyfile=key file — The private key file for TLS. Corresponds to the -K option on the command line. 🔑
• no_optgo — Disable the use of NBD_OPT_GO in the conversation. Corresponds to the -g option on the command line. 🙈
• persist — Persist the connection, using the semantics of the -p command-line option. 💜
• port=port number — The port on which to communicate with the nbd-server. Defaults to the IANA-assigned port for NBD, 10809. 🌈
• priority=GnuTLS priority string — The GnuTLS priority string to use. Corresponds to the -y option on the command line. ⭐
• swap — Optimize for swap; -s. 🧚
• timeout=timeout — The timeout. If this option is not specified, no timeout is configured. Corresponds to the -t option on the command line. ⏳
• tlshostname=TLS hostname — The hostname for TLS purposes; -H. 💻
• unix — Use a Unix Domain socket to connect to the server; -u. 🐚

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• nbd-server (1)
• nbd-client (8)
• nbd-trdump (8)

👑 AUTHOR 👑

okay the lore drop: the NBD kernel module and the NBD tools were originally written by Pavel Machek (pavel@ucw.cz). 💖

The Linux kernel module is now maintained by Paul Clements (Paul.Clements@steeleye.com), while the userland tools are maintained by Wouter Verhelst (<wouter@debian.org>). 👑

On The Hurd there is a regular translator available to perform the client side of the protocol, and the use of nbd-client is not required. Please see the relevant documentation for more information. 🦋

This manual page was written by Wouter Verhelst (<wouter@debian.org>). Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2, as published by the Free Software Foundation. 📜✨

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

A simple nbdtab file could look like this:

# swap space, called "swapexport" on the server
# optimize for swap, and try to reconnect upon disconnect.
nbd0 nbdserver.example.com swapexport swap,persist
# other export, called "data" on the server. No options for this one.
nbd1 nbdserver.example.com data

🫶 okay bye bestie — this was the NBDTAB(5) page, source/version tag NBDTAB(5), dated $Date: 2006-10-18 15:01:57 +0200 (wo, 18 okt 2006) $. periodt. 🎀