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I have an NFSv3 export from a Linux fileserver which used to mount fine. The fileserver had to go down for hardware maintenance. After bringing the server back up, the Linux client can no longer mount the nfs export.

No configuration has changed on the server or the client. I did do a software update and reboot the client after the first mount failed, but that did not help.

[root@client ~]# showmount -e ark
Export list for ark:
/mnt/bigraid *

[root@client ~]# mount -t nfs ark:/mnt/bigraid raid

It just hangs at this point. In another terminal...

[root@client ~]# dmesg | tail
[ 2526.676437] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2529.183107] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2531.689778] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2538.196432] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2540.703107] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2543.209767] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2545.716436] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2548.223098] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2550.729775] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out
[ 2557.236435] nfs: server ark not responding, timed out

...OK, but I could see the exports with showmount...

[root@client ~]# ping ark
PING ark.homebase ( 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from ark.homebase ( icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.067 ms
64 bytes from ark.homebase ( icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.043 ms
64 bytes from ark.homebase ( icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.048 ms
64 bytes from ark.homebase ( icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.042 ms
--- ark.homebase ping statistics ---

So I don't get it.

The server is running OpenSUSE. I ensured that the firewall was off (not that it was ever on) and that network connectivity seems fine.

ark:/etc # cat exports
/mnt/bigraid    *(rw,root_squash,insecure,no_subtree_check,sync)

Edit: here's the list of RPC ports in use

ark:/etc/init.d # rpcinfo -p
program vers proto   port
100000    2   tcp    111  portmapper
100005    1   udp  37599  mountd
100005    1   tcp  33880  mountd
100005    2   udp  37599  mountd
100005    2   tcp  33880  mountd
100005    3   udp  37599  mountd
100005    3   tcp  33880  mountd
100024    1   udp  49522  status
100024    1   tcp  41314  status
100003    2   udp   2049  nfs
100003    3   udp   2049  nfs
100003    4   udp   2049  nfs
100021    1   udp  51887  nlockmgr
100021    3   udp  51887  nlockmgr
100021    4   udp  51887  nlockmgr
100003    2   tcp   2049  nfs
100003    3   tcp   2049  nfs
100003    4   tcp   2049  nfs
100021    1   tcp  49804  nlockmgr
100021    3   tcp  49804  nlockmgr
100021    4   tcp  49804  nlockmgr
100000    2   udp    111  portmapper

Edit 2: Got some tcpdump information

(Edit 3: Removed tcpdump output, since it may not be relevant.)

I'm not at all familiar with what a proper nfs negotiation looks like. I also dumped a pcap file if you want to look at the data segments. It's at filedropper

Edit 3: I may be hitting this issue

I was following @CIA's advice below, and did this:

ark:/etc/init.d #  ./nfsserver stop
Shutting down kernel based NFS server: nfsd statd mountd idmapd       done
ark:/etc/init.d # ./portmap stop
Shutting down RPC portmap daemon                                      done
ark:/etc/init.d # ./portmap start
Starting RPC portmap daemon                                           done
ark:/etc/init.d # ./nfsserver start
Starting kernel based NFS server: idmapdexportfs: Warning: /mnt/bigraid does not support NFS export.
 mountd statd nfsd sm-notify                                          done

Despite the warning, the export now seems mountable.

share|improve this question
Is selinux enabled/disabled? –  CIA Feb 26 '13 at 5:34
@CIA to the best of my knowledge, selinux is neither installed nor supported on OpenSUSE. –  Nathan Feb 26 '13 at 12:32
Are you sure? As of version 11.1, openSUSE contains SELinux “basic enablement”. news.opensuse.org/2008/08/20/… –  CIA Feb 26 '13 at 17:22
The fileserver is running OpenSuSE 11.0 –  Nathan Feb 26 '13 at 18:13
I can see you are able to ping to your nfs box. Are you able to ping your server from the nfs box? Also, were you trying to mount to ~/root/raid or did you mean to mount to /raid? And for your /etc/exports, have you tried explicitly defining the IP instead of using "*"? –  CIA Feb 26 '13 at 18:34

4 Answers 4

up vote 1 down vote accepted

So, NFS is weird in the it relys on portmapper to be running, so it can map a specific port to an RPC port. (I guess it's not weird. It's just the way it works.) If NFS is up before portmapper, NFS doesn't know how to route requests, because it checks portmapper for this at the start of the process. If portmapper is not up before NFS, NFS doesn't know how to map port to rpc.

Here's more documentation about the process (even though its for CentOS, it's still relevant): http://www.centos.org/docs/5/html/Deployment_Guide-en-US/s2-nfs-methodology-portmap.html

As for your new error message, reboot the box you're mounting with and remount to see if the error comes back.

share|improve this answer
I think I've seen the "new" error message before, and it doesn't appear to actually matter when it comes to being able to mount the export. It's quite possibly related to the ancient version of OpenSUSE we're running. One day maybe I'll get an intern to upgrade it :). Anyway, thanks for the help. –  Nathan Feb 27 '13 at 23:22
tcpdump -i $LAN_IF -n host

should show you which of the NFS components fails.

share|improve this answer
I have added tcpdump information to the question. Let me know if you find it helpful. –  Nathan Feb 26 '13 at 12:59
I don't understand the entries like But it's obvious that you use NFS4 and that communication with the server is possible in general. I didn't know that tcpdump understands NFS. I just read that you get more NFS related information by giving -vv as an argument. It seems that your client calls the NFS "command" "176 getattr fh 0,0/35" and shortly after that finishes the connection. Even more strange: The server continues sending data after that and gets a connection reset. There's no need to print lines after the first "Flags [R.]". –  Hauke Laging Feb 26 '13 at 15:36
I don't think I'm actually using NFSv4. I believe I have it set up with v3. Could this be the source of the problem? –  Nathan Feb 26 '13 at 18:12
OK, I am not familiar enough with NFS. TCP on port 2049 was possible with NFSv3. I thought that nonetheless connections to portmapper and mountd were necessary (which are not necessary in NFSv4). –  Hauke Laging Feb 26 '13 at 18:20

Enable the following TCP and UDP ports for clients to access nfs share on server.

For NFS3 tcp: 111,662,875,892,2020,2049,32803
udp: 111,2049,32769

For NFS4

tcp: 111,2049 udp: 111,2049

Edit: try to telnet the above ports from nfs client

share|improve this answer
I can connect to 111 and 2049. I think the other ports may be randomly assigned, since they're different on my server (check my edit to the post above). –  Nathan Feb 26 '13 at 12:29

If you you have host based firewall and using nfs, check out:


You may have specify which ports your daemons are using, so they aren't being randomly assigned.

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