---
name: "cfsd"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "cfs"
version: "1.4.1-17"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/cfsd"
---

# cfsd(8)

cryptographic file system daemon

## NAME

cfsd - cryptographic file system daemon

## SYNOPSIS

**cfsd**

## DESCRIPTION

**cfsd** is the user-level daemon for the Cryptographic File System (CFS).  It is essentially an RPC server for the NFS protocol augmented with the CFS\_ADMIN protocol.  It listens on the CFS port (ordinarily port 3049) on the **localhost** interface.

The main function of **cfsd** is to manage the keys for currently attached encrypted directories, presenting them in clear form under the CFS mount point (typically "/crypt").

**cfsd** should ordinarily be invoked at boot time from /etc/rc (or /etc/rc.local).  The rc file should also start [**mountd**(8)](/mountd/8.md) daemon with least one file system exported to localhost; note that cfsd itself does not handle the mount protocol. Once a mountd is running, the [mount(8)](/mount/8.md) command should be invoked to mount the exported file system from the localhost interface with port=3049.

## EXAMPLES

- /usr/local/etc/cfsd

  invokes cfs (in /etc/rc)

- /etc/mount -o port=3049,intr localhost:/ /crypt

  mounts cfs on /crypt (in /etc/rc)

## FILES

- /crypt

  cfs mount point

- /etc/exports

  exported file systems

## SEE ALSO

[cattach(1)](/cattach/1.md), [cdetach(1)](/cdetach/1.md), [mountd(8)](/mountd/8.md), [mount(8)](/mount/8.md)

## BUGS

**cfsd** is single threaded, which means it doesn't handle lots of simultanious operations very well.  In particular, it is not possible to recursively attach encrypted directories, since that would lead to a deadlock.

## AUTHOR

Matt Blaze; for information on cfs, email to cfs@research.att.com.