Nfs

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have an OS X Server 10.2.8 box that has a share which uses both AFP and NFS.



Where are the logs to monitor NFS connectivity and do troubleshooting? I cant seem to find any NFS logs.



Are there any NFS command line tools to see who is connected, etc?



Why doesn't OS X Server have much functionality in terms of tools and utilities for NFS? I dont even see a way to disable NFS once it is enabled.



If I want to connect to an NFS share from an OS X client, what is the syntax for connecting? "nfs://server/share"?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    sroachsroach Posts: 105member
    In unix there are always 10 ways of doing things, one such way would be:



    Open a terminal



    mkdir mountpoint



    mount server:share /mountpoint



    cd mountpoint
  • Reply 2 of 7
    dobbydobby Posts: 797member
    OS X Server 10.2 is pretty crap with its gui nfs interface.

    You can start and stop the nfsd with kill (great huh).

    Use showmount to view client that have mounted an export.

    Use nidump exports / to view the exports.

    You can use nidump -r and niload to edit a file and reload the config. You need to HUP mountd for it to take affect.

    Use nfsstat to see monitor activity.

    10.3 Server is slightly better but not much.



    Saying that we use mainly NFS and have a varity of NFS exports. The biggest problem is using the maproot=uid:gid and this sometimes works and sometimes not.



    A guy called Marcel Bresink (www.bresink.de perhaps?)has a pretty good gui interface for 10.2 onwards if you are not familiar with the command line and netinfo.



    Dobby.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sroach

    In unix there are always 10 ways of doing things, one such way would be:



    Open a terminal



    mkdir mountpoint



    mount server:share /mountpoint



    cd mountpoint




    I couldnt get those commands to work on my NFS test client. Here's what worked for me:



    "mount_nfs <server>:<absolute_path_to_nfs_sharepoint> /<local_mountpoint>"



    I had to path to the NFS share point, rather than just refering to its share name. Kinda sucks. Not very secure either.



    This sound right to you guys?
  • Reply 4 of 7
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dobby

    OS X Server 10.2 is pretty crap with its gui nfs interface.

    You can start and stop the nfsd with kill (great huh).

    Use showmount to view client that have mounted an export.

    Use nidump exports / to view the exports.

    You can use nidump -r and niload to edit a file and reload the config. You need to HUP mountd for it to take affect.

    Use nfsstat to see monitor activity.

    10.3 Server is slightly better but not much.



    Saying that we use mainly NFS and have a varity of NFS exports. The biggest problem is using the maproot=uid:gid and this sometimes works and sometimes not.



    A guy called Marcel Bresink (www.bresink.de perhaps?)has a pretty good gui interface for 10.2 onwards if you are not familiar with the command line and netinfo.



    Dobby.




    Thanks. Very handy stuff!
  • Reply 5 of 7
    OK, more questions:



    1) A NFS client MUST have it's IP in the server's /etc/exports file in order to connect to the server?



    2) NFS clients do NOT have to authenticate with a username or password?



    3) Typically, would a Linux or UNIX NFS client mount their remote NFS shares at?



    4) What are the advantages of using NFS?



    5) What role does RPC have in NFS?



    6) Where would you suggest an OS X client use for a local mount location for a network NFS share point? I never could get my test client to mount in any of these locations:



    / (hard drive root)

    ~/Desktop (my local desktop)

    /Volumes (the invisible Volumes dir)



    I gave up on using convient local locations for a mount point, so I got tricky and and finally had to create a dir on the root of my local hard drive called "mounts" (an arbitrary name) in order to mount the NFS share locally on my test OS X client. What are the "rules" to mounting a share?



    7) Can I NOT use the "Connect to Server" box to mount an NFS share?



    8) Does NFS use UDP or TCP?



    9) Does NFS preserve Mac legacy resource fork data?



    10) Does NFS support long file names?



    11) Do you know of a good tutorial site for OS X and NFS (client and server)?



    12) Why do NFS mounts behave so different than, say, AFP, FTP or SMB shares? Its so damn freaky! LOL



    13) This whole world of NFS reminds me of a clunky version of Windows "Drive mapping" a little. Am I correct? NFS feels so static and rigid...
  • Reply 6 of 7
    mikefmikef Posts: 698member
    (Disclaimer: I am new to OS X, I am not new to NFS on other UNIX (incl. Linux) platforms)



    Quote:

    Originally posted by dstranathan

    OK, more questions:



    1) A NFS client MUST have it's IP in the server's /etc/exports file in order to connect to the server?





    Not on other unixes, so I presume not on OS X. You can export a filesystem to everybody.



    Quote:

    2) NFS clients do NOT have to authenticate with a username or password?



    Correct. When using the AUTH_SYS authentication mechanism (which is the default), root (UID: 0) mounts the filesystem and access to read/write is based on the UID of the users attempting file operationgs on that filesystem.



    Quote:

    3) Typically, would a Linux or UNIX NFS client mount their remote NFS shares at?



    Do you mean "where"? Virtually anywhere you want...



    Quote:

    4) What are the advantages of using NFS?



    Some say it's faster than Samba (SMB), some say it's not. If you are integrating into an environment with other UNIX clients/servers, NFS is the native choice for file sharing.



    Quote:

    5) What role does RPC have in NFS?



    NFS uses RPC to perform it's operations.



    Quote:

    6) Where would you suggest an OS X client use for a local mount location for a network NFS share point? I never could get my test client to mount in any of these locations:



    / (hard drive root)

    ~/Desktop (my local desktop)

    /Volumes (the invisible Volumes dir)





    You cannot mount a filesystem onto the root of your client filesystem.



    Quote:

    7) Can I NOT use the "Connect to Server" box to mount an NFS share?



    Doesn't it work with "nfs:/hostname/export"? I thought I've done that before.



    Quote:

    8) Does NFS use UDP or TCP?



    Most modern NFS implementations support both.



    Quote:

    9) Does NFS preserve Mac legacy resource fork data?



    No.



    Quote:

    10) Does NFS support long file names?



    Yes.



    Quote:

    11) Do you know of a good tutorial site for OS X and NFS (client and server)?



    I'd be happy to write (or assist) writing one as soon as I get my iBook back from the shop.



    Quote:

    12) Why do NFS mounts behave so different than, say, AFP, FTP or SMB shares? Its so damn freaky! LOL



    How so?



    Quote:

    13) This whole world of NFS reminds me of a clunky version of Windows "Drive mapping" a little. Am I correct? NFS feels so static and rigid...



    Again, how so? IMHO, NFS is very functional. It's not a "glossy" feature, but rather a necessity for those who need it. It works, without frills.



    As I stated, I am new a OS X user. My ultimate goal is to get started programming and I plan on writing a full-feature NFS server manager/monitor.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    dobbydobby Posts: 797member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by mikef

    [B My ultimate goal is to get started programming and I plan on writing a full-feature NFS server manager/monitor. [/B]



    Excellent! Visit www.bresink.com and checkout the nfsmanager to get an idea.

    Its okay but doesn't give you the ability to add any other options such as -alldirs.

    It should also be able to workout if you are trying to share dirs and sub dirs incorrectly.

    Not that I could write a better front-end but my vi and niload/nidump is pretty good.



    Dobby.
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