Create a NFS mount point in ESX

If you need to mount an NFS (windows share) drive in ESX, do it as follows:

• First you will have to open the firewall port in ESX by typing in theservice console “esxcfg-firewall -e smbClient”. This opens outbound TCPports 137 – 139 and 445.
• Next make sure the Local Security Policy on the Windows Server youare going to map to has the following settings under Security options.If you do not do this you may get a “Stale NFS Handle” or “Permissiondenied” error when trying to mount.
  - Microsoft network client – digitally sign communications (always) – DISABLED
  - Microsoft network client – digitally sign communications (if server agrees) – DISABLED
  - Microsoft network server – digitally sign communications (always) – DISABLED
  - Microsoft network server – digitally sign communications (if server agrees) – DISABLED
• Next type “cd /vmimages” and then “mkdir ISO”
• Next type “mount -t smbfs -o username= //windows server/share/vmimages/ISO” you can also use a windows domain username by typing“username=,workgroup=”
  You will be prompted for a password for the user account you are using.
• You can type “cd /vmimages/ISO” and do “ls” and you should see allyour files. You can now map your VM’s CD-ROM using the Datastore ISOfile device type and select the /vmimages/ISO folder.
• If you no longer need this mount point you can un-mount it by typing “umount /vmimages/ISO”
• To automatically have your ESX server mount this share when it restarts do the following:
  Edit /etc/fstab using Nano or Vi
  Add the following line to the bottom of the file: “//windowsserver/share /vmimages/ISO smbfs noauto,username=,password= 0 0”
  Edit /etc/rc.local using Nano or Vi
  Add the following line to the bottom of the file “mount –a”