NFS shares a remote directory over the network
An NFS export is a directory on the server plus a list of clients allowed to reach it; the file that describes it is not what serves it. /etc/exports is read by exportfs, which writes the master export table to /var/lib/nfs/etab, which rpc.mountd consults on a client’s MOUNT request. Three files: one that people edit, two that decide what happens. ...