C.2 NFS Server FAQs

This section has NFS Server FAQs for Native File Access for UNIX.

C.2.1 Where can I view / modify the NFS attributes of a file apart from a UNIX client?

If netstorage is installed, then in netstorage, beside where you view/modify NetWare attributes, there is a new tab to view/modify NFS Information.

C.2.2 When using NetWare mode, why does the NetWare owner change for directories not reflect right away on UNIX client?

This is because the UNIX client displays the cached results.

It does not issue an NFS call because the change in the NetWare owner metadata does not affect the modification timestamps. Therefore, the client assumes its cache to be valid and displays cached results.

When the client refreshes the cache it will display the updated information.

Alternately, execute a touch file/directory_nameto force the updates.

C.2.3 What can I do when the mount point of a previously exported path is active even after the path is removed from exports file?

When you unshare or remove a path from exports list, unmount all the client mounts for that share.

C.2.4 What is the difference in the export options /pathname -ro -root and /pathname -ro -anon?

When you specify /pathname -ro -root, the path is exported as read-only with root access to all clients.

However, when you specify /pathname -ro -anon, the path is exported as read-only with anonymous access to all clients. If you do not specify the anon option, then on the client side root cannot do any operations on the mount point.Even executing a cd to the mount point is not allowed.

C.2.5 What is the result of specifying only -ro as the export option?

When you specify only -ro option for the pathname, it exports the path as read-only to all clients. Because by default, root-access and anonymous access are disabled, the root cannot perform any operations except mounting on the mount point.

C.2.6 I’m trying to export a traditional volume using NFS Server, but it fails to mount on an NFS Client even though showmount shows the export. Why?

The NFS Server on NetWare 6.5 does not support export of NetWare Traditional File system.

C.2.7 I am using IBM AIX 4.3 NFS client and am facing issues in simultaneous acquiring and releasing of locks over the same region of a file from two different processes. Can I avoid them?

To avoid the issues, use AIX 5.0 or later NFS clients.

C.2.8 While upgrading the iManager snap-ins from iManager configuration, the message "This package has an earlier version than the module that is currently installed. Installation has been cancelled." displays. How can I resolve this?

To resolve this and install the latest NFS iManager snap-ins after deleting the previous module.

To delete the module, go to iManager menu > Configure > iManager configuration > Modules.

C.2.9 I unable to export a non-English path if I use Notepad on Windows to modify the exports file. How can I resolve this?

Use iManager or language (i18n) enabled editors to export non-English paths.

C.2.10 Does NFS Server support exports for directories with spaces in the name?

NFS Server does not support export of directories with spaces in the name. Make sure that users do not export a directory containing spaces. If users try to export a directory with spaces in the name, the exports fails without any message displayed.

C.2.11 The non-root user is unable to create files in mounted directory that is exported as rw without root access. Can this be resolved?

When the default umask of 022 is applied to the mount point, the non-root user must be the owner in order to have permission to work at the mount point.

To grant the non-root user permissions to perform all the operations:

  1. After exporting a volume with root access and all rights, mount it on UNIX and execute a chmod nnncommand along with a combination of chown and chgrp to the user’s UID/GID.

  2. Umount the mount point.

  3. Export the same volume again with rw permissions.

  4. Mount it on UNIX.

C.2.12 File operations are failing when NDS_ACCESS is set to 0 in etc\nfs.cfg. Can this be resolved?

NFS Server does not support the remote NIS feature.

To resolve this, modify etc\nfs.cfg and set NDS_ACCESS= 1 and restart nfsservices.

C.2.13 Is there a tool or a utility using which I can view the user and group attributes?

You can use the Ldapsearch tools to write all types of queries to get the information from eDirectory, including users and groups data. For more information on the Ldapsearch tools, refer the Novell eDirectory 8.6 documentation:Using LDAP Tools on Linux or Solaris.

C.2.14 Why are the mount points inaccessible after upgrading from NetWare 6.5 (FCS, Support Pack 1, or 2) to OES NetWare?

This is because the NFS filehandle format has changed. To resolve this, unmount and remount the paths on the NFS clients.

C.2.15 Why do the file permissions change when it is updated from a mapped drive from Windows client?

This is because certain Windows based applications such as Wordpad do not actually modify files. When you save your modifications, they delete the original and save the modified version as a new file. Therefore, the new file gets the ownership of the modifying NetWare- windows user, and default permissions.

C.2.16 How do i enable hard link support after applying OES NetWare SP2(NetWare 6.5 SP4)

OES SP2 has the implementation of NSS hardlinks. For details on enabling hard link support for NFS, see Technical Information Document

C.2.17 Issues with initializing XNFS after upgrading NetWare from SP7 to SP8

After upgrading your NetWare server to SP8, XNFS initialization fails. You will get the following error message:

Error: NFS services initialization failed during eDirectory interface library (ndsilib.nlm) initialization - Error Code : 9600. Unloading XNFS.NLM.

Use the following workaround to resolve this error:

Manually execute schnist -n -w from your system console. If the error remains unresolved after this step, use the following steps to resolve it:

  1. Make a note of all the nodes that share the NFAUUser object in that context.

  2. Delete the NFAUUser object.

  3. Run schinst -n -w on all the nodes.