NFSv4 missing directory contents and slow mounting

English Network/Internet
1

I am setting up a group of PCs to use NFS. The NFS server is running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, one client is running Ubuntu 13.04, and another client is running OpenSUSE 12.3. I decided to follow the instructions in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/NFSv4Howto, simple NFSv4 without Kerberos (for now).

I ran into problems on both clients.
(1) On my Ubuntu client, executing “mount -t nfs4 -o proto=tcp,port=2049 nfs-server:/users /home/users”
mounts my exported directory, as shown by “df -h”. However, if I cd into the mounted directory in the client, the contents (files and subdirectories) are all missing.
(2) Executing “mount -t nfs4 -o proto=tcp,port=2049 nfs-server:/users /home/users” on my openSUSE client mounts everything inside my exported directory perfectly, unlike (1) above. That’s good. However, the mounting process takes a while (15 seconds). If I run “rpc.gssd -f -v” simultaneously on another terminal, the mounting process takes place instantaneously, with the contents of exported directory all present, as they should be. Is there a way to achieve this end result without having to run rpc.gssd?

2

On the openSUSE client you may take a look at the settings of the network device. If it’s set to be activated “on cable connection” set it to “at boot”. The setting can be found in Yast - Network - Networksettings.

3

Without a complete understanding of what is failing, you may also wish to check out some advice given here (which I stumbled across while researching this)

z/OS V1R12 information center

In particular, I note that is mentioned to set /etc/sysconfig/nfs like this

NFS_SECURITY_GSS="yes"
NFS4_SUPPORT="yes"
NFS_START_SERVICES="gssd,idmapd"

My thinking was that the last line will start the rpcsec_gss daemon automatically. I’m sure others can provide further advice on this.

4

If you are suffering from the annoying 15 second delay try adding
blacklist rpcsec_gss_krb5
to /etc/modprobe.d/50-blacklist.conf

M