Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uw-beaver!ubc-cs!alberta!dvinci!moorej
From: moorej@dvinci.usask.ca (Jonathan Moore)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.nfs
Subject: Various Questions re: PC-NFS, etc.
Message-ID: <1989Dec6.163953.20378@dvinci.usask.ca>
Date: 6 Dec 89 16:39:53 GMT
Organization: University of Saskatchewan
Lines: 60

Hello.

I have a few questions which are all loosely related, so I will put them
all in one posting.

First, some background. I am running a Sun 3/60 as a file server for a
medium-sized PC network (~40 MS-DOS machines) in a microcomputer lab. The 
PC's are running PC-NFS 3.01. The 3/60 is running SunOS 4.0.3. I have various 
home-grown RPC programs running on the server which seem to run OK.

Now for the questions:

	1) Every so often (about once a week or so), clients stop being
	able to mount the server's disks. Terminal sessions are still OK.
	This affects the PC-NFS clients as well as other UNIX servers. 
	Nothing I try short of rebooting the server can fix the problem. 
	Is there something less drastic that can be done about this? Is
	something perhaps conflicting with the NFS stuff?
	
	2) The /etc/rmtab file on the server seems to grow (and grow...).
	Many of the entries have a hash character in them. The file temds
	to look something like:
	
		.
		.
		#kul13:/dos
		#kul18:/dos
		skul21:/dos
		.
		.
		
	I assume PC-NFS is putting the "#" hash characters in the lines
	when a PC client unmounts (or maybe when it dies). Is this
	something to cause concern? Can I just periodically trash this
	file (It gets to be >1 Mb)?
	
	3) Another PC-NFS question. Is there any way to (somewhat
	accurately) account for usage under PC-NFS? It would be advantageous
	to be able to track how much the lab is being used and by whom.
	However, it seems that the stateless nature of NFS makes this type
	of accounting impossible, since the server doesn't keep track of
	what the clients are doing. I have tried running a simple accounting 
	system that starts up when the PC is booted, and stops when the user
	logs out (there is a "logout" program that, among other things, tells
	the accounting program the user is done). However, this has problems,
	since the users often turn off the machine prematurely, or it crashes
	altogether. Any insight anyone has into NFS-type accounting would
	be greatly appreciated.
	
I would appreciate any comments/answers/etc regarding any of these questions
that anyone may have.

Thanks very much in advance,
Jonathan.

-- 
|--- Jonathan Moore  ------------------|--  Voice: (306) 966-5295 ---------|
|    College of Engineering            |                                   |
|    University of Saskatchewan        |    Email: moorej@sask.usask.CA    |
|___ Saskatoon, Canada  S7N 0W0________|__________ moorej@dvinci.usask.CA _|