pcnfs: cannot mount from windows

[Roberto Polli]

Hi all,
I got a problem with a pcnfs/nfs server on thu64 v5.1b.

NFS works fine and exports all areas, while pcnfs makes me crazy:
with rpcinfo I can check that daemons are listening and with a pcnfsd-scanner I see that it's exporting the right areas.

When I try to mount I get a silly
"The network path was not found"

On another pcnfsd-server with the same configuration, as shows
sysman nfs
everything goes fine.

Any hint?
Peace, R.

[Uwe Zessin]

Roberto,
if I understand you correctly, you are saying that the error message is on the Windows system, right?

Is it possible that the client cannot do the server-name to IP-address mapping?

[Evert Jan van Ramselaar]

PCNFS can be a pain in the butt... We had similar problems with our (Windows 3.11!) PCNFS clients.

We seem to have solved it with having the clients access the cluster address instead of just one of the nodes. Also mind the /etc/exports.aliases file.

More information is available at
http://h30097.www3.hp.com/docs/base_doc/DOCUMENTATION/V51A_HTML/ARHGYDTE/NTWRKSRV.HTM#nfs-restrictions

EJ

[Orrin]

Hi Roberto,

Agree with EJ, one other thing tho' check the /etc/clua_services file, in there on the nfs ports for tcp and udp, add the out_alias it should look like this..

nfs 2049/tcp in_multi,out_alias,static
nfs 2049/udp in_multi,out_alias,static

This in addition to EJ recommendations should do the trick.

Regards,
Orrin.

[Roberto Polli]

Hi all,
and thanks for your hints.

1) my pc can resolve address, like ping shows.
2) I don't have a truCluster, so I think that the latest hints apply to my case
3) I have to mention a very strange thing: without changing server configuration I experience that sometimes I can mount the areas, sometimes not. All this independently from the PC (i tried on more than one) which should mount the dirs.

Peace, R.

[Ralf Puchner · Accepted solution]

Roberto,

1. check if a pcnfsd daemon is running on Tru64 side and a showmount -e lists the nfs directories.

2. be sure your PC name is properly resolved on Tru64 system.

3. be sure PC uses the proper user mapping (so you have the permission to mount the directories) or password mechanism

4. use command line interface of pcnfs implementation on pc side instead of gui based tool (because error messages are clear and not "interpreted").

[Roberto Polli]

Hi Ralf,
you're always the best.

I already tested that NFS server was working, but I didn't know the server had to resolve the ip-address of the client.

We resolved the problem puttig PC hostname in /etc/hosts because DNS management is out of our control.

Being the other server configuration unchanged I can't explain why it works...

Thanks to all,
Peace, R.