[SunHELP] Red Hat Linux/Solaris NFS incompatibility?

[Phil Stracchino]

On Wed, Oct 22, 2003 at 08:34:58PM -0600, Reinhard Dunkel wrote:
> Our computer world was in order as long as we used an Ultra 10 running 
> Solaris 8 as NFS (and SAMBA) file server. When we switched to a PC running 
> RH Linux 9 as file server, NFS continued to work. But the Solaris 8 
> (cluster patch installed) and 9 NFS clients are now over an order of 
> magnitude too slow. The Linux NFS clients work fine. After days of 
> following suggestions from various mailing lists, we unsuccessfully tried 
> about every combination of options for the Linux NFS server and the Solaris 
> NFS client. Our network uses fast Ethernet with a central switch (ZyXEL 
> Prestige 600). Did we overlook a needed NFS patch for Solaris 8 or 9? What 
> else could resolve this apparent RH/Solaris NFS incompatibility?


Bluntly, here's the problem.

1.  There are two Linux nfsds, the userspace nfsd and the kernel nfsd
    (knfsd).
2.  The userspace nfsd is the default nfsd, but it sucks big rocks 
    through a small straw and is, as you've found out, extremely slow.
3.  The kernel nfsd, knfsd, is supposed to work better, but is (or was,
    the last time I looked at it) totally undocumented.  Basically, if
    you want to run knfsd, you're on your own.

Solution:  Don't use Linux to serve NFS.  Leave it on Solaris.  Frankly,
if you're getting decent performance from your Liinxu NFS clients,
you're already doing better than average.


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