I am planing to fresh install CentOS over my Debian linux.
In my Debian server I have mounted (as NFS) few remote folders residing on NAS. I have changed file ownership and permissions for these folders to be accessible by user "backup" (from Debian server) only.

My question is: if I will fresh install CentOS and would like to mount NFS folders again, will I be able to access the folders? If I create new user "backup" will it help getting access?

Thanks for help.

NFS deals with permissions the same as for local filesystems. So as long as the user on your new installation has the same UID as the owners of the files you're trying to get at, then yes, they can access the files. Check your /etc/passwd file and use the same UID's and you'll be fine (but I would caution you to use some UID below 1000 but above 100 for your backup user, so that it won't conflict with default system users installed on most systems. Backup is one such user, but it's a different UID and GID in most distributions, so don't depend on it!)

Remember that the user NAMES don't really count. They're just cosmetic. You could have two users "joe" and "job", and they could both have UID 5600, and they'd be the same user as far as the system is concerned. So creating a "backup" user on your new CentOS system doesn't necessarily mean it will have access to the files. It MUST have the same UID.


Good luck to you!

Thank you jakykong,

this is exactly the answer I was expecting.
Thanks again,
Wawosz