NFS problems with Linux mounting a file

Hi,

I'm having problems with a Linux NFS server and a Solaris client.
I can mount a file (not a directory) from a Solaris or AIX box, which is
bigger than 2GB, but not from a Linux box.

How to verify:

(on the linux box)
- create a 3GB big test file ("dd if=/dev/zero of=testfile3gb bs=1024
count=3m") and another one smaller than 2GB (chance count to 20k for a
20MB file).
- export the directory containing these files

(on the solaris box)
- mount the file system containing the above file (and unmount it)
- mount the smaller test file (and unmount it)
- mount the bigger test file (and unmount it)

The first two mounts should succeed, the third one (with the 3g big test
file) should fail with an error message:

nfs mount: <hostname>:/<path>/<filename>: Permission denied

I tried it with a Suse Enterprise Linux 8 (SLES8) with Kernel 2.4.19 and
a Debian sarge box with kernel 2.6.6. So it doesn't just seem to be a
problem with kernel 2.4.

Any ideas how to get around this? I need this feature, otherwise the
Linux box may be kicked out of the project.

BTW: I tried it the other way, mounting a file from a Solaris box on a
Linux box. This fails every time with the error message "mount: Not a
directory".

regards
Meik

--
Do you want to know more? (E-Mail Removed)

On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 00:41:53 +0200, Meik Langwald wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm having problems with a Linux NFS server and a Solaris client.
> I can mount a file (not a directory) from a Solaris or AIX box, which is
> bigger than 2GB, but not from a Linux box.
>
> How to verify:
>
> (on the linux box)
> - create a 3GB big test file ("dd if=/dev/zero of=testfile3gb bs=1024
> count=3m") and another one smaller than 2GB (chance count to 20k for a
> 20MB file).
> - export the directory containing these files
>
> (on the solaris box)
> - mount the file system containing the above file (and unmount it)
> - mount the smaller test file (and unmount it)
> - mount the bigger test file (and unmount it)
>
> The first two mounts should succeed, the third one (with the 3g big test
> file) should fail with an error message:
>
> nfs mount: <hostname>:/<path>/<filename>: Permission denied
>
> I tried it with a Suse Enterprise Linux 8 (SLES8) with Kernel 2.4.19 and
> a Debian sarge box with kernel 2.6.6. So it doesn't just seem to be a
> problem with kernel 2.4.
>
> Any ideas how to get around this? I need this feature, otherwise the
> Linux box may be kicked out of the project.
>
> BTW: I tried it the other way, mounting a file from a Solaris box on a
> Linux box. This fails every time with the error message "mount: Not a
> directory".
>
> regards
> Meik

Anything exciting in the /var/log/messages and /var/adm/messages on the
client and server, respectively, when it fails?

--Dave

On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 00:41:53 +0200, Meik Langwald wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm having problems with a Linux NFS server and a Solaris client.

That is understandable. Linux NFS is broken.

> Any ideas how to get around this? I need this feature, otherwise the
> Linux box may be kicked out of the project.

Install Solaris x86 on that box and your problems should go away.

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In comp.os.linux.networking Dave Uhring <(E-Mail Removed)> suggested:
> On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 00:41:53 +0200, Meik Langwald wrote:

>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm having problems with a Linux NFS server and a Solaris client.

> That is understandable. Linux NFS is broken.

Don't agree with this one, using Linux NFS with various unix(tm)
clients, you just need to follow the instructions in the Linux
NFS howto (www.tldp.org), AFAIR linux <-> solaris nfs works out
of the box.

>> Any ideas how to get around this? I need this feature, otherwise the
>> Linux box may be kicked out of the project.

> Install Solaris x86 on that box and your problems should go away.

Case all his hardware is supported...

--
Michael Heiming (GPG-Key ID: 0xEDD27B94)
mail: echo (E-Mail Removed) | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
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On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 05:59:04 +0000, Michael Heiming wrote:

> In comp.os.linux.networking Dave Uhring <(E-Mail Removed)> suggested:

>> That is understandable. Linux NFS is broken.
>
> Don't agree with this one, using Linux NFS with various unix(tm)
> clients, you just need to follow the instructions in the Linux
> NFS howto (www.tldp.org), AFAIR linux <-> solaris nfs works out
> of the box.

A few years ago the exact reason for Linux NFS being broken was thoroughly
discussed on the freebsd-(E-Mail Removed) mailing list but I can no
longer find the thread in the archives. Linux clients worked OK but BSD
and Solaris clients did not.

Perhaps Linus did finally get around to fixing this bug but I no longer
even attempt to run a Linux NFS server. Samba, DHCP, DDNS, mail and print
servers work fine under Linux.

>> Install Solaris x86 on that box and your problems should go away.
>
> Case all his hardware is supported...

Most is, with the usual exception of NICs, but Intel NICs are quite
inexpensive, reliable and supported by every x86 OS I have ever tried.

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[note Newsgroups:]

On 2004-07-09, Dave Uhring <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> A few years ago the exact reason for Linux NFS being broken was thoroughly
> discussed on the freebsd-(E-Mail Removed) mailing list but I can no
> longer find the thread in the archives. Linux clients worked OK but BSD
> and Solaris clients did not.

I don't have any BSD or Solaris clients, but I do have some IRIX clients,
with a linux NFS server, and haven't had problems on either of them.

- --keith

- --
kkeller-(E-Mail Removed)
(try just my userid to email me)
AOLSFAQ=http://wombat.san-francisco.ca.us/cgi-bin/fom

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On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 09:59:31 -0500, Dave Uhring wrote:
> On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 05:59:04 +0000, Michael Heiming wrote:
>> In comp.os.linux.networking Dave Uhring <(E-Mail Removed)> suggested:
>>> That is understandable. Linux NFS is broken.
>> Don't agree with this one, using Linux NFS with various unix(tm)
>> clients, you just need to follow the instructions in the Linux
>> NFS howto (www.tldp.org), AFAIR linux <-> solaris nfs works out
>> of the box.
>
> A few years ago the exact reason for Linux NFS being broken was thoroughly
> discussed on the freebsd-(E-Mail Removed) mailing list but I can no
> longer find the thread in the archives. Linux clients worked OK but BSD
> and Solaris clients did not.

I remember reading about it... still see echoes...

> Perhaps Linus did finally get around to fixing this bug but I no longer
> even attempt to run a Linux NFS server. Samba, DHCP, DDNS, mail and print
> servers work fine under Linux.

I run a mix of SPARC Solaris and SuSE PC Linux (used to be Mandrake, and
before...). I generally use Solaris for NFS servers. I recall recently
trying to mount stuff from a Dell 1400SC, and having some "weird
problems" (inconsistencies?). I didn't investigate much further, since I
had the Suns available. Now I just use PC Linux for desktops and/or
compute boxes (building Linux RPMs, etc.) and "experiments", etc.

BTW, I have also had "weird stuff" happen with Linux NIS. My Suns can't
access internet addresses if they are using ypserv from Linux on the DELL.
I suspect it has to do with NIS/DNS interworking (or lack thereof). Again,
(like the doctor said) "if it hurts, don't do that" so I use Solaris.
Linux NIS (and maybe NFS?) and automounter is a moving target. Linux
automounter didn't used to support direct maps. Recently, someone pointed
out that autofs4 (under development? not the default!) now does support
direct maps, but I haven't (re)tested that for myself.

I had considered that maybe it was just the mix/combination of SuSE and
Solaris that was the problem. However, Sun invented NFS and NIS, so I
cannot see that you can claim Sun versions are "busted"? They should be
the "reference platform". If something doesn't work, then the other side
is probably busted. The client sides of Linux NFS and NIS work fine though.

--
Juhan Leemet
Logicognosis, Inc.

On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 00:40:05 -0200, Juhan Leemet wrote:

> I had considered that maybe it was just the mix/combination of SuSE and
> Solaris that was the problem. However, Sun invented NFS and NIS, so I
> cannot see that you can claim Sun versions are "busted"? They should be
> the "reference platform". If something doesn't work, then the other side
> is probably busted. The client sides of Linux NFS and NIS work fine though.

I made no such claim. Indeed it was I who recommended to the OP that he
discard Linux on his NFS server and replace it with Solaris x86.

On Fri, 09 Jul 2004 22:14:16 -0500, Dave Uhring wrote:

> On Sat, 10 Jul 2004 00:40:05 -0200, Juhan Leemet wrote:
>
>> I had considered that maybe it was just the mix/combination of SuSE and
>> Solaris that was the problem. However, Sun invented NFS and NIS, so I
>> cannot see that you can claim Sun versions are "busted"? They should be
>> the "reference platform". If something doesn't work, then the other side
>> is probably busted. The client sides of Linux NFS and NIS work fine though.
>
> I made no such claim. Indeed it was I who recommended to the OP that he
> discard Linux on his NFS server and replace it with Solaris x86.

Sorry... sloppy writing... I should have said "one cannot claim".
I meant some kind of indefinite pronoun.

--
Juhan Leemet
Logicognosis, Inc.

I think there should be any problem with solaris and linux mounting
NFS shares. I did that few years back.

Well, I can't understand why would someone install solaris x86 for NFS
to work? Is NFS hardware/architecture dependent?

Raqueeb Hassan
Congo (DRC)