> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ona.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Setting up an NFS share for your workspaces

<Warning> **Note**: This step is optional and only required when you want your workspaces to have access to an NFS share.</Warning>

## Creating the NFS share

1. Use the AWS management console and select the account where your Gitpod installation is hosted.
2. Select the *EFS Managed File Storage for EC2* service
3. Select *Create file system*
4. Select the VPC of your Gitpod installation
5. Click the Customize button
6. In *Step 2 Network access* ensure that the Mount targets specify your [*Pod* subnets](/classic/admin/getting-started/networking#2-subnet-separation), in the availability zones for which you deployed Gitpod. The pod subnets should be CGNAT ranges.
   * This requires you to create and specify a security group which allows inbound NFS (TCP 2049)
7. Create the NFS share

## How to use your NFS share from your workspace

1. Ensure you've followed steps from above.
2. Create a folder in your workspace like so, `sudo mkdir /efs`.
   * Avoid mounting NFS within `/workspace`. It is not compatible.
3. Mount the share to `/efs` in your workspace.
   * Click the *Attach* button on the overview page of your EFS file system, copy the command for the NFS client.
   * Adjust the copied command, such `efs` at the end is replaced with `/efs`.

<Frame caption="NFS Mount Command">
  <img src="https://mintcdn.com/gitpod-13c83c2b/1T56zcBWQ3jfH-V2/images/enterprise/nfs-mount-command.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=1T56zcBWQ3jfH-V2&q=85&s=49703f10b00d3f59f095c908b4ed9d55" width="2912" height="1340" data-path="images/enterprise/nfs-mount-command.png" />
</Frame>

## How to map users for NFS shares

This set of steps is necessary if you wish to alter how users are mapped.

There are a few prerequisites:

1. Create an NFS share as described above
2. Setup an [EFS Access Point](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/efs/latest/ug/efs-access-points.html) with the the desired properties
   * This'll ensure file creation is done as a specific user and group.
3. Add [efs-utils](https://github.com/aws/efs-utils) to the workspace image.
   * This'll ensure that from your workspace, you can use NFS via the EFS Access Point.

### Setup the EFS Access Point

Create an EFS Access Point in your AWS console and define the desired properties.

### Update your custom dockerfile

Add the following to your [custom Dockerfile](/classic/user/configure/workspaces/workspace-image#using-a-custom-dockerfile), this supports `efs-utils` in your workspace image.

```bash theme={null}
set -e
# install efs-utils
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install git binutils rustc cargo pkg-config libssl-dev gettext
git clone https://github.com/aws/efs-utils && pushd efs-utils
./build-deb.sh
sudo apt-get -y install ./build/amazon-efs-utils*deb
popd && rm -rf ./efs-utils
# install a runtime dependency for efs-utils watchdog
sudo -H pip3 install botocore
```

### Mount the NFS share

Create a mount for the EFS Access Point like so:

```bash theme={null}
REGION="eu-central-1"
EFS_ACCESS_POINT_ID="fsap-12345678"
EFS_FILE_SYSTEM_ID="fs-87654321"
MOUNT_POINT="/efs"

sudo mkdir -p ${MOUNT_POINT}

sudo mount -t efs -o tls,region=${REGION},accesspoint=${EFS_ACCESS_POINT_ID} ${EFS_FILE_SYSTEM_ID}:/ ${MOUNT_POINT}
```

<Info> **Note**: Ignore the warning `Could not start amazon-efs-mount-watchdog, unrecognized init system "supervisor"` after doing the mount. `supervisor` is our component responsible for initializing your workspace.</Info>

<Info> **Suggestion**: Run `sudo amazon-efs-mount-watchdog &`, after creating the mount to the EFS Access Point. Why? As background, when you mount to an EFS Access Point, an `efs-proxy` process is started in your workspace. If it crashes, the watchdog will restart the `efs-proxy`. If `efs-proxy` is not running, you will be unable to use the mount, which is why the watchdog is helpful.</Info>

<Warning> **Limitation**: Docker Compose lacks a plugin for mounting with EFS Access Points. So, you'll need to establish the mount before starting your containers, if using Docker Compose.</Warning>