[rescue] Solaris 9 NFS client with Linux server

[Andrew Gaylard]

On 8/8/07, Steve Sandau <ssandau at gwi.net> wrote:
>
> Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
> > On Tue, Aug 07, 2007 at 07:32:14AM -0400, Steve Sandau wrote:
> >> I have tried different versions of the mount command including such
> >> options as rsize=1024 wsize=1024 proto=tcp vers=3 without changing the
> >> behavior at all. There is no firewall on either box, and they are on
> the
> >> same network with nothing but a 10m hub in between.
> >
> > Try UDP instead of TCP. NFS over TCP is not supported well in older
> Linux systems
> > (if at all), and in a LAN adds a lot of extra uneccessary overhead.
> >
>
> I tried UDP and have the same problem unfortunately. I am not sure what
> the default is, UDP or TCP.
>
> I have another clue, though. This server works fine with Linux clients
> and Sol 10 clients, but is broken with Sol 9 clients, SPARC and x86. Is
> there possibly a daemon that I have neglected to start that could cause
> this?
>
> I don't think it is DNS-related at all; mounting with the IP address
> instead of the name causes the same thing.
>
> Running ethereal shows a problem 'ls' generating a "READDIRPLUS" request
> that a working response does not have. After that I get fragmented UDP
> packets, duplicates and retransmissions. But a sniff of an sftp session
> shows no such errors.
>
> Ideas?
>
> Steve


readdirplus is a NFS3 operation.  Perhaps your sever is NFSv2-only?
If so, then just set your clients to make NFSv2 connections.  it's an
option that can be specified in /etc/vfstab at mount-time.  There's a
way to pass the same option via automount's config files too.  The
client and server are supposed to negotiate v3/v2 at mount time
automatically.  Why this isn't working properly is an interesting question.

To be honest, I've had no success with Linux as a NFS server in recent
years (unexplained hangs with "NFS server not responding, with no
packets being sent at all).  That's with clients of Solaris 9, HPUX 11i,
and Linux-2.6.various.

If possible, I'd advise using it as a client only.  Use Solaris or *BSD
for a server if reliability's important.  (Isn't it always?)

I'd love to be proven wrong on this point, BTW: I'd love one of my Linux
boxes to be a (reliable) NFS server to a mix of clients.

Andrew