Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!batcomputer!rogerj
From: rogerj@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu (Roger Jagoda)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: nfs mount problems
Message-ID: <9056@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Date: 14 Oct 89 20:44:54 GMT
References: <9038@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu>
Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Lines: 58
Reply-To:FQOJ@CORNELLA.CIT.CORNELL.EDU

>I have received the following error more than once. Could someone               
>with source (at NeXT, Avie?) please give me  a clue as to what the              
>problem is.
>                                                                                
Avie has once again come through, thanks. Actually, the error
seems to coincide with standard unix errors in sys/errno.h which
I didn't know (sourced from Avie again!).
 
Error 13 is EACCES or permission denied. This meant that the server
was not allowing root access to the client. Avie suspected the exports
file and he was right. The error:
 
>nfs_getremotevfs: remote mount error=13                                         
>nfs_mountroot:can't get root file handle                                        
>panic (cpu0) root mount, cannot mount root                                      
 /etc/exports:

>/ -root=tompkins:upson:cayuga:seneca                                            
>/clients/montour -access= montour,root=montour                                   
>/clients/reading -access=reading,root=reading                                   
>/clients/bradford -access=bradford,root=bradford                                
>                                                                                That space after "access= " was enough to do it. Examination
of /etc/xtab showed the following:
 
/ -root=seneca:cayuga:upson:tompkins:
/clients/montour -access= access=odessa, root=montour
....<other client lines>
 
So you see the problem. The server was exporting the file-
system fine, but not with the proper accesses. Correcting
/etc/exports, then re-exporting (exportfs -va) solved the problem.
Perhaps this is reason (small mistakes in flat files causing
BIG trouble over networks) to incorporate the exports file
into NetInfo somehow (Peter, Avie, any ideas?). 
 
Before everyone starts lining up to flame or support
please don't. We've hashed this one fairly thoroughly.
Those who've used NetInfo either like it or not and
I certainly agree with everyone's reasons for both.
But let me say this, for NON-unix gurus (I'm a converted
NetWare SysOp myself), the flat files are just a pain.
NetInfo, for all its problems will be a panacea for
those NOT having a year of UNIX administration behind
them. All the bootpara info, and mounting info is already
in netinfo, it seems like exports should also be (something
like niload -v exports . </etc/exports.local...we already
do this for fstab.local and fstab.network).
 
Thanks to all who responded for helping, I hope the
resolution is equally useful.
 
>Roger Jagoda                                                                    
>System Analyst                                                                  
>Cornell University                                                              
>Internet: FQOJ@CORNELLA.CIT.CORNELL.EDU                                         
>Bitnet: FQOJ@CORNELLA.BITNET                                                    
>Snail Mail: 220 Cornell Comp. Cent. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853        
>AT&T: (607) 255-8960