---
name: "mountd"
section: "8"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mountd"
---

# mountd(8)

service remote NFS mount requests

## NAME

**mountd** – service remote NFS mount requests

## SYNOPSIS

**mountd** \[**-d**\] \[*exportsfile*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**mountd** is the server for NFS mount requests from other client machines. **mountd** listens for service requests at the port indicated in the NFS server specification; see RFC 1094, Appendix A and RFC 1813, Appendix I.

The options are as follows:

- **-d**

  Enable debugging mode. **mountd** will not detach from the controlling terminal and will print debugging messages to stderr.

- *exportsfile*

  The *exportsfile* argument specifies an alternate location for the exports file.

When **mountd** is started, it loads the export host addresses and options into the kernel using the [mount(2)](/mount/2.md) system call. After changing the exports file, a hangup signal should be sent to the **mountd** daemon to get it to reload the export information. After sending the SIGHUP (kill -HUP \`cat /var/run/mountd.pid\`), check the syslog output to see if **mountd** logged any parsing errors in the exports file.

## FILES

- */etc/exports*

  list of exported filesystems

- */var/db/mountdtab*

  list of exported filesystems currently mounted

- */var/run/mountd.pid*

  PID of the currently running **mountd**

## SEE ALSO

[nfsstat(1)](/nfsstat/1.md), [exports(5)](/exports/5.md), [nfsd(8)](/nfsd/8.md), [portmap(8)](/portmap/8.md), [showmount(8)](/showmount/8.md)

## HISTORY

The **mountd** utility first appeared in 4.3BSD-Reno.

The **-n** flag historically allowed clients to use non-reserved ports when communicating with **mountd**. In OpenBSD, a reserved port is always used.