# Creating and using shared file systems

Depending on the option chosen while installing the share node (Option with share server management and one without); the steps to create and use your shared file systems will vary. When the Shared File Systems service handles the creation and management of share servers, you would need to specify the `share network` with the request to create a share. Either modes will vary in their respective share type definition. When using the driver mode with automatic handling of share servers, a service image is needed as specified in your configuration. The instructions below enumerate the steps for both driver modes. Follow what is appropriate for your installation.

## Creating shares with Shared File Systems Option 1 (DHSS = False)

## Create a share type

Disable DHSS (`driver_handles_share_servers`) before creating a share using the LVM driver.

1. Source the admin credentials to gain access to admin-only CLI commands:

       $ . admin-openrc

2. Create a default share type with DHSS disabled. A default share type will allow you to create shares with this driver, without having to specify the share type explicitly during share creation.

       $ manila type-create default_share_type False
       +----------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | Property             | Value                                |
       +----------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | required_extra_specs | driver_handles_share_servers : False |
       | Name                 | default_share_type                   |
       | Visibility           | public                               |
       | is_default           | -                                    |
       | ID                   | 3df065c8-6ca4-4b80-a5cb-e633c0439097 |
       | optional_extra_specs | snapshot_support : True              |
       +----------------------+--------------------------------------+

   Set this default share type in `manila.conf` under the `[DEFAULT]` section and restart the `manila-api` service before proceeding. Unless you do so, the default share type will not be effective.

   Note

   Creating and configuring a default share type is optional. If you wish to use the shared file system service with a variety of share types, where each share creation request could specify a type, please refer to the Share types usage documentation here.

## Create a share

1. Source the `demo` credentials to perform the following steps as a non-administrative project:

       $ . demo-openrc

2. Create an NFS share. Since a default share type has been created and configured, it need not be specified in the request.

       $ manila create NFS 1 --name share1
       +-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | Property                    | Value                                |
       +-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | status                      | creating                             |
       | share_type_name             | default_share_type                   |
       | description                 | None                                 |
       | availability_zone           | None                                 |
       | share_network_id            | None                                 |
       | share_group_id              | None                                 |
       | host                        |                                      |
       | access_rules_status         | active                               |
       | snapshot_id                 | None                                 |
       | is_public                   | False                                |
       | task_state                  | None                                 |
       | snapshot_support            | True                                 |
       | id                          | 55c401b3-3112-4294-aa9f-3cc355a4e361 |
       | size                        | 1                                    |
       | name                        | share1                               |
       | share_type                  | 3df065c8-6ca4-4b80-a5cb-e633c0439097 |
       | has_replicas                | False                                |
       | replication_type            | None                                 |
       | created_at                  | 2016-03-30T19:10:33.000000           |
       | share_proto                 | NFS                                  |
       | project_id                  | 3a46a53a377642a284e1d12efabb3b5a     |
       | metadata                    | {}                                   |
       +-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+

3. After some time, the share status should change from `creating` to `available`:

       $ manila list
       +--------------------------------------+--------+------+-------------+-----------+-----------+--------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------+
       | ID                                   | Name   | Size | Share Proto | Status    | Is Public | Share Type Name    | Host                        | Availability Zone |
       +--------------------------------------+--------+------+-------------+-----------+-----------+--------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------+
       | 55c401b3-3112-4294-aa9f-3cc355a4e361 | share1 | 1    | NFS         | available | False     | default_share_type | storage@lvm#lvm-single-pool | nova              |
       +--------------------------------------+--------+------+-------------+-----------+-----------+--------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------+

4. Determine export IP address of the share:

       $ manila show share1
       +-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
       | Property                    | Value                                                                              |
       +-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
       | status                      | available                                                                          |
       | share_type_name             | default_share_type                                                                 |
       | description                 | None                                                                               |
       | availability_zone           | nova                                                                               |
       | share_network_id            | None                                                                               |
       | share_group_id              | None                                                                               |
       | export_locations            |                                                                                    |
       |                             | path = 10.0.0.41:/var/lib/manila/mnt/share-8e13a98f-c310-41df-ac90-fc8bce4910b8    |
       |                             | id = 3c8d0ada-cadf-48dd-85b8-d4e8c3b1e204                                          |
       |                             | preferred = False                                                                  |
       | host                        | storage@lvm#lvm-single-pool                                                        |
       | access_rules_status         | active                                                                             |
       | snapshot_id                 | None                                                                               |
       | is_public                   | False                                                                              |
       | task_state                  | None                                                                               |
       | snapshot_support            | True                                                                               |
       | id                          | 55c401b3-3112-4294-aa9f-3cc355a4e361                                               |
       | size                        | 1                                                                                  |
       | name                        | share1                                                                             |
       | share_type                  | c6dfcfc6-9920-420e-8b0a-283d578efef5                                               |
       | has_replicas                | False                                                                              |
       | replication_type            | None                                                                               |
       | created_at                  | 2016-03-30T19:10:33.000000                                                         |
       | share_proto                 | NFS                                                                                |
       | project_id                  | 3a46a53a377642a284e1d12efabb3b5a                                                   |
       | metadata                    | {}                                                                                 |
       +-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

## Allow access to the share

1. Configure access to the new share before attempting to mount it via the network. The compute instance (whose IP address is referenced by the INSTANCE_IP below) must have network connectivity to the network specified in the share network.

       $ manila access-allow share1 ip INSTANCE_IP
       +--------------+--------------------------------------+
       | Property     | Value                                |
       +--------------+--------------------------------------+
       | share_id     | 55c401b3-3112-4294-aa9f-3cc355a4e361 |
       | access_type  | ip                                   |
       | access_to    | 10.0.0.46                            |
       | access_level | rw                                   |
       | state        | new                                  |
       | id           | f88eab01-7197-44bf-ad0f-d6ca6f99fc96 |
       +--------------+--------------------------------------+

## Mount the share on a compute instance

1. Log into your compute instance and create a folder where the mount will be placed:

       $ mkdir ~/test_folder

2. Mount the NFS share in the compute instance using the export location of the share:

       # mount -vt nfs 10.0.0.41:/var/lib/manila/mnt/share-8e13a98f-c310-41df-ac90-fc8bce4910b8 ~/test_folder

## Creating shares with Shared File Systems Option 2 (DHSS = True)

Before being able to create a share, manila with the generic driver and the DHSS (`driver_handles_share_servers`) mode enabled requires the definition of at least an image, a network and a share-network for being used to create a share server. For that back end configuration, the share server is an instance where NFS shares are served.

Note

This configuration automatically creates a cinder volume for every share. The cinder volumes are attached to share servers according to the definition of a share network.

1. Source the admin credentials to gain access to admin-only CLI commands:

       $ . admin-openrc.sh

2. Create a default share type with DHSS enabled. A default share type will allow you to create shares with this driver, without having to specify the share type explicitly during share creation.

       $ manila type-create default_share_type True
       +----------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | Property             | Value                                |
       +----------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | required_extra_specs | driver_handles_share_servers : True  |
       | Name                 | default_share_type                   |
       | Visibility           | public                               |
       | is_default           | -                                    |
       | ID                   | 8a35da28-0f74-490d-afff-23664ecd4f01 |
       | optional_extra_specs | snapshot_support : True              |
       +----------------------+--------------------------------------+

   Set this default share type in `manila.conf` under the `[DEFAULT]` section and restart the `manila-api` service before proceeding. Unless you do so, the default share type will not be effective.

   Note

   Creating and configuring a default share type is optional. If you wish to use the shared file system service with a variety of share types, where each share creation request could specify a type, please refer to the Share types usage documentation here.

3. Create a manila share server image in the Image service. You may skip this step and use any existing image. However, for mounting a share, the service image must contain the NFS packages as appropriate for the operating system. Whatever image you choose to be the service image, be sure to set the configuration values `service_image_name`, `service_instance_flavor_id`, `service_instance_user` and `service_instance_password` in `manila.conf`.

   Note

   Any changes made to `manila.conf` while the `manila-share` service is running will require a restart of the service to be effective.

   Note

   As an alternative to specifying a plain-text `service_instance_password` in your configuration, a key-pair may be specified with options `path_to_public_key` and `path_to_private_key` to configure and allow password-less SSH access between the share node and the share server/s created.

       $ curl -L \
       https://tarballs.opendev.org/openstack/manila-image-elements/images/manila-service-image-master.qcow2 | \
       glance image-create \
       --name "manila-service-image" \
       --disk-format qcow2 \
       --container-format bare \
       --visibility public --progress
       %   Total    %   Received %   Xferd  Average  Speed   Time     Time     Time      Current
                                            Dload    Upload  Total    Spent    Left      Speed
       100 3008k    100 3008k    0   0      1042k    0       0:00:02  0:00:02  --:--:--  1041k
       +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
       | Property         | Value                                                                            |
       +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
       | checksum         | 48a08e746cf0986e2bc32040a9183445                                                 |
       | container_format | bare                                                                             |
       | created_at       | 2016-01-26T19:52:24Z                                                             |
       | direct_url       | rbd://3c3a4cbc-7331-4fc1-8cbb-79213b9cebff/images/ff97deff-b184-47f8-827c-       |
       |                  | 16c349c82720/snap                                                                |
       | disk_format      | qcow2                                                                            |
       | id               | 1fc7f29e-8fe6-44ef-9c3c-15217e83997c                                             |
       | locations        | [{"url": "rbd://3c3a4cbc-7331-4fc1-8cbb-79213b9cebff/images/ff97deff-b184-47f8   |
       |                  | -827c-16c349c82720/snap", "metadata": {}}]                                       |
       | min_disk         | 0                                                                                |
       | min_ram          | 0                                                                                |
       | name             | manila-service-image                                                             |
       | owner            | e2c965830ecc4162a002bf16ddc91ab7                                                 |
       | protected        | False                                                                            |
       | size             | 306577408                                                                        |
       | status           | active                                                                           |
       | tags             | []                                                                               |
       | updated_at       | 2016-01-26T19:52:28Z                                                             |
       | virtual_size     | None                                                                             |
       | visibility       | public                                                                           |
       +------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

4. List available networks in order to get id and subnets of the private network:

       $ neutron net-list
       +--------------------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------------------+
       | id                                   | name    | subnets                                            |
       +--------------------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------------------+
       | 0e62efcd-8cee-46c7-b163-d8df05c3c5ad | public  | 5cc70da8-4ee7-4565-be53-b9c011fca011 10.3.31.0/24  |
       | 7c6f9b37-76b4-463e-98d8-27e5686ed083 | private | 3482f524-8bff-4871-80d4-5774c2730728 172.16.1.0/24 |
       +--------------------------------------+---------+----------------------------------------------------+

5. Source the `demo` credentials to perform the following steps as a non-administrative project:

       $ . demo-openrc.sh

       $ manila share-network-create --name demo-share-network1 \
       --neutron-net-id PRIVATE_NETWORK_ID \
       --neutron-subnet-id PRIVATE_NETWORK_SUBNET_ID
       +-------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | Property          | Value                                |
       +-------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | name              | demo-share-network1                  |
       | segmentation_id   | None                                 |
       | created_at        | 2016-01-26T20:03:41.877838           |
       | neutron_subnet_id | 3482f524-8bff-4871-80d4-5774c2730728 |
       | updated_at        | None                                 |
       | network_type      | None                                 |
       | neutron_net_id    | 7c6f9b37-76b4-463e-98d8-27e5686ed083 |
       | ip_version        | None                                 |
       | cidr              | None                                 |
       | project_id        | e2c965830ecc4162a002bf16ddc91ab7     |
       | id                | 58b2f0e6-5509-4830-af9c-97f525a31b14 |
       | description       | None                                 |
       +-------------------+--------------------------------------+

## Create a share

1. Create an NFS share using the share network. Since a default share type has been created and configured, it need not be specified in the request.

       $ manila create NFS 1 --name demo-share1 --share-network demo-share-network1
       +-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | Property                    | Value                                |
       +-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+
       | status                      | None                                 |
       | share_type_name             | default_share_type                   |
       | description                 | None                                 |
       | availability_zone           | None                                 |
       | share_network_id            | 58b2f0e6-5509-4830-af9c-97f525a31b14 |
       | share_group_id              | None                                 |
       | host                        | None                                 |
       | snapshot_id                 | None                                 |
       | is_public                   | False                                |
       | task_state                  | None                                 |
       | snapshot_support            | True                                 |
       | id                          | 016ca18f-bdd5-48e1-88c0-782e4c1aa28c |
       | size                        | 1                                    |
       | name                        | demo-share1                          |
       | share_type                  | 8a35da28-0f74-490d-afff-23664ecd4f01 |
       | created_at                  | 2016-01-26T20:08:50.502877           |
       | export_location             | None                                 |
       | share_proto                 | NFS                                  |
       | project_id                  | 48e8c35b2ac6495d86d4be61658975e7     |
       | metadata                    | {}                                   |
       +-----------------------------+--------------------------------------+

2. After some time, the share status should change from `creating` to `available`:

       $ manila list
       +--------------------------------------+-------------+------+-------------+-----------+-----------+------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------+
       | ID                                   | Name        | Size | Share Proto | Status    | Is Public | Share Type Name        | Host                        | Availability Zone |
       +--------------------------------------+-------------+------+-------------+-----------+-----------+------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------+
       | 5f8a0574-a95e-40ff-b898-09fd8d6a1fac | demo-share1 | 1    | NFS         | available | False     |   default_share_type   | storagenode@generic#GENERIC | nova              |
       +--------------------------------------+-------------+------+-------------+-----------+-----------+------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------+

3. Determine export IP address of the share:

       $ manila show demo-share1
       +-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
       | Property                    | Value                                                                              |
       +-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
       | status                      | available                                                                          |
       | share_type_name             | default_share_type                                                                 |
       | description                 | None                                                                               |
       | availability_zone           | nova                                                                               |
       | share_network_id            | 58b2f0e6-5509-4830-af9c-97f525a31b14                                               |
       | share_group_id              | None                                                                               |
       | export_locations            |                                                                                    |
       |                             | path = 10.254.0.6:/shares/share-0bfd69a1-27f0-4ef5-af17-7cd50bce6550               |
       |                             | id = e525cbca-b3cc-4adf-a1cb-b1bf48fa2422                                          |
       |                             | preferred = False                                                                  |
       | host                        | storagenode@generic#GENERIC                                                        |
       | access_rules_status         | active                                                                             |
       | snapshot_id                 | None                                                                               |
       | is_public                   | False                                                                              |
       | task_state                  | None                                                                               |
       | snapshot_support            | True                                                                               |
       | id                          | 5f8a0574-a95e-40ff-b898-09fd8d6a1fac                                               |
       | size                        | 1                                                                                  |
       | name                        | demo-share1                                                                        |
       | share_type                  | 8a35da28-0f74-490d-afff-23664ecd4f01                                               |
       | has_replicas                | False                                                                              |
       | replication_type            | None                                                                               |
       | created_at                  | 2016-03-30T19:10:33.000000                                                         |
       | share_proto                 | NFS                                                                                |
       | project_id                  | 48e8c35b2ac6495d86d4be61658975e7                                                   |
       | metadata                    | {}                                                                                 |
       +-----------------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

## Allow access to the share

1. Configure access to the new share before attempting to mount it via the network. The compute instance (whose IP address is referenced by the INSTANCE_IP below) must have network connectivity to the network specified in the share network.

       $ manila access-allow demo-share1 ip INSTANCE_IP
       +--------------+--------------------------------------+
       | Property     | Value                                |
       +--------------+--------------------------------------+
       | share_id     | 5f8a0574-a95e-40ff-b898-09fd8d6a1fac |
       | access_type  | ip                                   |
       | access_to    | 10.0.0.46                            |
       | access_level | rw                                   |
       | state        | new                                  |
       | id           | aefeab01-7197-44bf-ad0f-d6ca6f99fc96 |
       +--------------+--------------------------------------+

## Mount the share on a compute instance

1. Log into your compute instance and create a folder where the mount will be placed:

       $ mkdir ~/test_folder

2. Mount the NFS share in the compute instance using the export location of the share:

       $ mount -vt nfs 10.254.0.6:/shares/share-0bfd69a1-27f0-4ef5-af17-7cd50bce6550 ~/test_folder

For more information about how to manage shares, see the OpenStack End User Guide

this page last updated: 2026-03-20 00:20:57

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