The Linux Network File System (NFS) server code (NFSD) is seeing a new Netlink protocol introduced in [1]Linux 6.10 as part of laying the groundwork for the new "nfsdctl" utility.

NFSD with Linux 6.10 is adding a new Netlink protocol intended for handling configuration of the NFSD server. The nfsdctl utility is being added to the nfs-utils user-space utilities for leveraging this new protocol.

Oracle's Chuck Lever comments in [2]the pull request :

"One notable new feature in v6.10 NFSD is the addition of a new netlink protocol dedicated to configuring NFSD. A new user space tool, nfsdctl, is to be added to nfs-utils. Lots more to come here."

The nfsdctl utility can currently being used to get/set the listener info, the NFS versions, thread settings, RPC processing info, and for starting the NFS server. Expect more nfsdctl functionality as time moves on. The nfsdctl utility was inspired by the likes of NetworkManager's nmcli and libvirt's virsh.

The intent is for nfsdctl to eventually replace the "rpc.nfsd" utility. The nfsdctl utility has been concurrently getting into shape for the nfs-utils package integration.

In addition to the new NFSD Netlink protocol, the Linux 6.10 pull request also brings optimizations, code clean-ups, and fixes.



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/search/Linux+6.10

[2] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/Zkd13J6KgE%2FkdKSJ@tissot.1015granger.net/