Unable to umount NFS file system

[Patricia Cordeiro]

Hi,
I'm trying to umount a NFS file system, and it returns "not mounted", but it shows in bfd and when I try to mount it again I get the error message "... is already mounted on...".
I already tried stopping and starting nfs.client, but got the same results. Any ideas?

[Pete Randall]

Sorry to say: I think you'll end up having to reboot.


Pete

[Suresh Patoria]

Hi,

Please check the any user using the file system

fuser -cu /<>

if it is there then pls kill

fuser -ku /<>

Thanx

[Patricia Cordeiro]

That's what I usually do whenever it happens, but I can't boot this server now, so I was hoping for some alternative...
Thanks.

[Pete Randall]

I have rarely had much luck in these situations. Running fuser usually shows up nothing. You can try lsof, available here:

http://hpux.connect.org.uk/hppd/hpux/Sysadmin/lsof-4.69/


Pete

[Zeev Schultz]

Could it be:
a)automounter , some of your processes is trying to access this directory constantly?
b)run from NFS server 'showmount' check that
client is not listed there.If it does - it's mounted (or pretends to look mounted :)
c)if not, try removing /etc/mnttab , run mount -v and bdf.

And by the way is everything ok with NFS server? (run 'rpcinfo ' from client), ps -ef | egrep 'lockd|statd|mountd|nfsd'. Also check that statd and lockd are

[Jakes Louw]

When you started & stopped the nfs client, did you check that RPC also got whacked?

[Patricia Cordeiro]

Hi,
Well, fuser shows no one, I'll try installing lsof.
The NFS server shows this file system mounted on this client. There are other file systems from the same NFS server mounted on this client, and they are all ok.

rpcinfo on the client is ok, and rpc.statd and rpc.lockd are up.

Any more ideas?

[Todd McDaniel_1 · Accepted solution]

One thing I havent seen mentioned is to comment out the entry in /etc/fstab then let the system cycle.

One trick that works, but you must be FAST!, is to rm /etc/mnttab or delete the entry for the mountpoint from /etc/mnttab

This will allow you a 10 second window or so to umount it... but comment out of /etc/fstab first...

[Patricia Cordeiro]

Thanks a lot Todd, that actually worked!
I was fast and then able to mount the file system. Problem is that now it is mounted twice (if I issue another umount it works, but only for the last mounted, the original still can not be umounted).
So, the problem is not solved, but I can at least use the file system until the server can be rebooted.
Rgds, Patricia.

[Todd McDaniel_1]

hehe glad it worked...

I actually meant for you to use that to UMOUNT the other one... Strange behavior...

I have seen strange things with NFS mounts in the past. A few months ago, I was at the end of my rope so I deleted the /etc/mnttab and got it to umount!!

If it works till a reboot then it is okay...

[Patricia Cordeiro]

Well, my first try was to umount, but I got "file system not on mnttab", wich made sense ;-).
But I was able to mount it, and when I issued a bdf (or checked mnttab again), the first one was also there, on the same line as before...

Thanks again.

[Jakes Louw]

One last thing: I assume you are using the "soft" option with NFSv3?

If not, please consider doing so.