Can't Mount NFS Share on FC2 Client

[JonR]

This, I told myself, should be easy, after all I've got Samba running ok on the same server and all my XP boxes are able to use the samba shares...

I'm trying to export a directory on my FC2 server via NFS so that my FC2 client can mount it.

I can ping the server from the client either by name or IP address.

On the server I have one directory set to export to Hosts = * and Permissions = RW. The /etc/exports reads thus:

/home/me/NFSExport *(rw,sync)

On the client as root I type

# mount -v servername:/home/me/NFSExport /home/me/servername

All I get is:

mount: no type was given - I'll assume nfs because of the colon
mount to NFS server 'servername' failed: server is down
RPC Error: 12 ( Remote system error )
System Error: 113 (No route to host)

Any help much appreciated...

[Sicily1918]

After modfiying the exports file, on the server, didja:

# exportfs -e

then

# service nfs start

and finally

chkconfig --level 345 nfs on

After that you should be OK. If you did all of that and it still doesn't work, change the exports file, remove the '*' and add the client's name, then restart NFS -- see if it likes that.

[JonR]

Originally Posted by Sicily1918

# exportfs -e

then

# service nfs start

and finally

chkconfig --level 345 nfs on

Tried that (guess you mean exportfs -a not -e) but no difference. The client gets an IP address via DHCP from a netgear router so I can't hard code the address into the server config files. But I shouldn't need to should I?

[Sicily1918]

Originally Posted by JonR

Tried that (guess you mean exportfs -a not -e) but no difference.

Ummm... yeah, I meant 'a'... I was testing you... yeah, that's it!

The client gets an IP address via DHCP from a netgear router so I can't hard code the address into the server config files. But I shouldn't need to should I?

I've got a Linksys router and I hard-coded my addresses. Granted, I configured it so that DHCP got assigned from 101 up, so everything below that is not dynamic.

What if you try:

/home/me/NFSExport 192.168.1.0/24(rw,sync)

for your /etc/exports? Substitute 192.168.1.0 for whatever your subnet's set to.

Oh, oh!!! I ran into this before... didja turn off iptables? Last time I tried that (public network) I couldn't get the damn thing to work for like 2 hours, then my co-worker mentions the firewall and I was like "D'oh!".

[JonR]

Originally Posted by Sicily1918

Oh, oh!!! I ran into this before... didja turn off iptables? Last time I tried that (public network) I couldn't get the damn thing to work for like 2 hours, then my co-worker mentions the firewall and I was like "D'oh!".

Could be, what do I need to turn off?

[JonR]

OK, long time no speak (been busy) but at last found time to get back to this. If I turn of my firewall it all works fine. But, I don't really want to turn off my firewall... What ports do I need to open to allow NFS to run without disabling the whole firewall?

[kosmosik]

NFS with firewall is a bit tricky you need to open six ports - udp/111 tcp/111 for RPC, udp/2049 tcp/2049 for NFS and (this is tricky part) unkown ports (not static) for mountd so this is hard... easier way is to force mountd to use static port but mind that this technique will require modifications on server side and on client side. basicaly you need to force server to use static port and then to force clients to connect to that port... check out this HOWTO on details:

http://www.ba.infn.it/calcolo/docume....html#Firewall

[JonR]

Thanks Kosmosik, v clear howto but I'm thinking this is looking like loads of hassle.

[kosmosik]

in fact it is like 5 minutes on server... and writing one line on client...

[ghight]

I think this is an excellent example of an all too common occurance with intranet client firewalls. I'm all for security, but if you truely need a firewall on this computer, then I would recommend not using NFS. However if this computer is on a secure intranet, then a firewall is not needed. At the most, I would run SNORT on it and turn off your firewall on a secured intranet.

[pavan_sydney]

Hi, I did all wat's described above, but it didn't work. I got the same problem <servr addr> failed:server is down. Am stuck with this since 3hr's, tried including turning off the firewall, tried with nfs version etc...not of much use.........

Any quick help on this appreciated............

[AndyGreen]

"no route to host" seems to be the key here. Run

tcpdump

in one terminal window while you try the connect in another, see what can be seen.

[pavan_sydney]

hi andy,

i should say you are the legend, it did work. can you give me breifing about what 'tcpdump' do. iboserved it shows the communication between the terminals. is there any thing more.......??

thankx again ..........

[AndyGreen]

lol... what did work? Tcpdump is just passive, it shouldn't help anything work.... if stuff has started working it is because of some other change.

Tcpdump records all the traffic at your network interface. I suggested it to see which packet exactly is not getting a response and to which IP it is sent, and if there is any ICMP coming back and if so from where.

[pavan_sydney]

hi,

the packet error message was that the admin on the client host (that's the root on client), was prohibited access to the server for the IP packet. so i turned off the fire wall on the server and its mounted the next moment.

nyways u did help me.........cheers