PowerScale: OneFS: Understanding the 'nobody' User

Summary: A description of the 'nobody' user identity in OneFS

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Instructions

The user 'nobody' is referred to as a pseudo user in NFS environments. It has the least number of privileges and acts as a standby account. It does not have a home directory. 

Typically, nobody is assigned as the owner and group of NFS exports when the following situations occur:


1. Root Mapping:
- If a client is not on the root clients list and attempts to act as root, nobody gets assigned to the exports. 


2. NFSv4 Look Ups:
- If the cluster cannot look up the UID for the name the client sent, the permissions get mapped to nobody instead. However, this can happen in reverse as well. 


In OneFS, nobody is associated with the following information:

- Domain: UNIX_USERS
- Shell: /usr/sbin/nologin 
- UID/GID: 65534, 65534

 

Affected Products

Isilon

Products

Isilon
Article Properties
Article Number: 000019399
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 27 Nov 2025
Version:  4
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