How to install an NFS client on CentOS Stream, RHEL, and Fedora

An NFS mount on a Red Hat-family client fails before it reaches the server when the client-side utilities are missing. Installing nfs-utils adds the mount.nfs helper and supporting programs that let the standard mount command handle remote NFS exports.

Current RHEL, CentOS Stream, and Fedora repositories provide the client tools through the nfs-utils package. The package installs mount.nfs for standard mount calls, showmount for export discovery on servers that expose it, and supporting client units; a client-only host does not need nfs-server.service.

After installation, rpm should report nfs-utils and the client helpers should return version output from the shell. Kerberos-protected or TLS-protected exports need additional domain, keytab, certificate, or tlshd setup after the base client package is present.

Steps to install an NFS client on CentOS Stream, RHEL, and Fedora:

Open a terminal with sudo privileges.

Install the NFS client utilities.

$ sudo dnf install --assumeyes nfs-utils
Dependencies resolved.
================================================================================
 Package          Architecture  Version              Repository  Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 nfs-utils        aarch64       1:2.8.3-7.el10       baseos      489 k
##### snipped #####
Complete!

dnf is the standard package command on current RHEL, CentOS Stream, and Fedora systems. Older hosts that expose only yum use the same package name: sudo yum install nfs-utils.

Confirm the installed package.
```
$ rpm -q nfs-utils
nfs-utils-2.8.3-7.el10.aarch64
```
The exact version and architecture differ by release. The package name should start with nfs-utils-.

Check the NFS mount helper version.

$ mount.nfs -V
mount.nfs: (linux nfs-utils 2.8.3)

Check the export discovery helper version.
```
$ showmount --version
showmount for 2.8.3
```
Use showmount to list exports when the server supports export discovery. For NFSv4-only servers, mount the known export path directly.
Related: List NFS exports from a client
Related: Mount an NFS export on Linux

Author: Mohd Shakir Zakaria
Mohd Shakir Zakaria is a cloud architect with deep roots in software development and open-source advocacy. Certified in AWS, Red Hat, VMware, ITIL, and Linux, he specializes in designing and managing robust cloud and on-premises infrastructures.