Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!troi!peter From: peter@dbaccess.com (Peter A. Castro) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.rt Subject: Re: RS/6000 and RT workstation 6152 - NFS, anyone? Message-ID: <772@troi.dbaccess.com> Date: 17 Oct 90 01:50:56 GMT References: <6936@uwm.edu> Organization: DB/Access Inc., Santa Clara, CA Lines: 74 in article <6936@uwm.edu>, jgreco@archimedes.math.uwm.edu (Joe Greco) says: + + We've got a nice new RISC System/6000 model 530 here at UWM, which is on our + local ethernet. On the same ethernet is our RT and about 15 6152 + workstations, strung together with NFS. The RT has 330 Mb in it, and it's + starting to get a little cramped. NFS has worked flawlessly to this point + between the RT and 6152's (and even another RT on campus), so I figured + that I would just export a directory on the 6000 and have a lot of megabytes + of space to compile TeX in. + + I'm exporting /u and /usr on the 6000. The user directories are in /u. + That's where I've got my temporary directory, too. I can successfully + mount /u on the 6152's and read to my heart's content (at least so far), but + if I try any major writes, I get locked in a NFS disk write on the 6152 (ps + shows 'waiting for device I/O') and eventually I'll get "NFS server thales + not responding... still trying" + + I've tried about six different configurations with /etc/fstab, all of which + work fine from the RT. I've varied the block sizes, I've altered the + retries and timeouts, I've tried soft vs hard.... I'm pulling my hair out. + Nothing works. I finally set "intr" and can ^Z out of a task. When the + task is suspended, I can do a "pwd" and suddenly I'll get "NFS server thales + OK", but the instant I go back to the job, it starts to die again. It reads + just fine but will write very little. + + I did *NOT* use SMIT to set up the NFS exports from thales, although they + have been checked with SMIT and all appears fine. I simply created an + /etc/exports file to my pleasing. Could this be a problem? Not really. There could be another problem which should have been in your 6000 documentation concerning networking with the RS/6000 and a PC/RT. This concerns the size of an Ethernet packet. On the RTs this size is about 1518 bytes in length (inetlen). On the RS/6000 the length of a packet is 1500. This can lead to problems that I'm sure you can imagine on your own. Look in the file /etc/net on your RTs, and you'll see a stanze like the following: * @(#)net 7.7 88/11/18 14:30:44 * This file contains a stanza for each adapter card (device) that * TCP can use. The stanza describes the characteristics for that * device. [comments deleted ..] net0: netaddr = 128.32.152.2 inetlen = 1518 r_inetlen = 1518 subnetmask = x0ff00 Now, just change the 1518 (both of them) to 1500 and things should be better. Hope this helps. + + Anyone else have a 6000 running NFS exports? Suggestions? Comments? Yes, I'm running a system that exports and imports NFS to/from an RS/6000 530 to an RS 6150. + > ... Joe + + ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ + Joe Greco - University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee - Department of Mathematics + jgreco@archimedes.math.uwm.edu USnail: Joe Greco + Voice: 414/321-6184 9905 W. Montana Ave. + Data: 414/321-9287 (Happy Hacker's BBS) West Allis, WI 53227-3329 + ICBM: 43 05 20 N 87 53 10 W + #include + Disclaimer: I don't speak for the Math Department, the University, or myself. -- Peter A. Castro INTERNET: peter@dbaccess.com // //| c/o DB/Access Inc. UUCP: {uunet,mips}!troi!peter // //|| 2900 Gordon Avenue, Suite 101 FAX: (408) 735-0328 \\ // //-||- Santa Clara, CA 95051-0718 TEL: (408) 735-7545 \// // ||