openSUSE 13.1 NFSv4 Client - cannot read server files. Works OK if NFSv4 not selected.

English Network/Internet
1

I have a very simple setup with two machines on a private network. Same openSUSE13.1 on both. NFS setup with YaST. On the server side I export one directory named /z. I select the NFSv4 option without gss. Firewall is off on both systems. On the client side I want to mount /z (from the server) at mountpoint /z2. (I use IP addresses on both side; nfs domain is “localdomain”.) When I select NFSv4 on the client side, I cannot see any files in /z (from the server side); my local /z2 directory is empty. When I do not select NFSv4 (or pNFSv4) on the client, but have NVSv4 on the server I can see the relevant files on the client machine.

How to I fix this?

I know it is bad form to ask two questions in one post, but where do I find a reasonable description of NFS (or NFSv4) management of files mounted in multiple client systems. If I update a file in one client, how are the other clients notified/protected/etc.

Bill Ogden

2

AFAIR for NFSv4 DNS reverse lookup must work. The simplest solution is to add your NFS server machine to the clients /etc/hosts file.

Hendrik

3

A very illuminating thread here about this topic in general terms. NFSv4 has integrated support for file locking, but the thread discussed application-specific and user-specific behaviour that has implications for those using shared file systems, that go beyond the networking protocol used to share the files.

4

NFSv4 also handles fsid a little differently which makes the whole setup a fair bit different than v3.

But krb5 support is worth it :3

5

I use IP addresses for the NFS server and client. Does it want to look up a “name” instead of an IP address?

Bill Ogden

6

Do you get any errors (e.g. permissions denied) when you try to access it?

7

It wants to look up the name for the IP address - for whatever reason.

Hendrik

8

You are quite correct. Adding an entry in /etc/hosts for the NFSv4 host machine solved the problem. Thank you!!

Bill Ogden