Stale NFS file handle error

[ranjani]

I have 2 servers on Linux RHEL4 UP3. When I switch the NFS directory from one server to the other, the client complains of a "Stale nfs handle" ESTALE error. Due to this, I'm not able to access the files in the mounted directory from the client.

I tried nfs restart on the server, but it did not help. I want to solve this problem, without using explicit mount/umount commands on the client. Also, it is preferrable to avoid rebooting the client machine.

The problem does not occur when I create another mount point and access the files from the new mount point. But, I do not want to use this method, since it creates redundant mount points.

Please help me with this problem. It only occurs in the Linux RED HAT 3 UPDATE 7. On other versions, everything works fine. Could this be a bug in the new Linux update?

Thanks,
Ranjani.

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom Ranjani,

Report the conditions with full details to bugzilla.redhat.com

Consider downgrading the nfs software on the RH 3 Update 7 to the version that ships with Update 6.

I do not believe there are dependency problems.

I believe you have diagnosed a bug.

SEP

[Bill Thorsteinson]

This is likely a problem with moving the
share from one server to another. You
should get the same problem if you shut
down an NFS server when a client is
accessing it.

The client still has a connection to the
old server NFS handle. Reexport the
directory from the old server then, and
the problem should disapper.

If the client was mounted with intr, then
you could kill the process accessing the old
share. Then force a dismount.

Make sure you have have no active
connections to a share before you remove it.
Otherwise you will encounter this problem.

[ranjani]

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions.

It is true that the problem also occurs when we shut down NFS server. I tried to export the directory again, but it does not solve the problem.

If I edit /etc/mtab file, by removing the stale file system and then mounting it again, it seems to work. But, this is not the approach I want to adopt. We need some procedure to re-establish the file handles between the server and the client.

The client is mounted with 'intr' option in /etc/fstab.

Please provide any helpful suggestions.

Thanks,
Ranjani.