I am trying to set up an old laptop to access my main desktop's NFS shares. I believe the host is working correctly, but the client (running Slackware 8.1) is returning an error when attempting to mount the directories:

> mount -t nfs [ip address]:/exported/dir /local/mnt/dir

mount: RPC: Port mapper failure - RPC: Unable to receive

> rpcinfo -p

program vers proto port
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper

I've run:
> /usr/sbin/rpc.nfsd
> /usr/sbin/rpc.mountd

to add instances of nfs, nlockmgr, and mountd to the above rpcinfo command, but still receive the same error. NFS doesn't seem to be starting even though /etc/rc.d/rc.nfsd is present and executable, and /etc/rc.d/rc.inet2 has the appropriate lines uncommented. The nfs-utils and portmap package are both installed. Can anyone help me solve this problem?

lsmod reveals nfsd module has been loaded

And you've added the laptop to your exports file? And have restarted the NFS daemons after eidting this on the server?

Yep...

> showmount -e

/exported/dir [laptop ip address]

I added nfs to my startup scripts and have rebooted numerous times since. The server seems to come up ok.

bump...

can no one help me?

If you can post your exports file? Also you said you added your own NFS startup scripts, can you post those or are you using the existing startup scripts that Slack will usually have already in /etc/rc.d ?

exports file:

/exported/dir [laptop ip](rw,sync)

I was speaking about the server when I said I added NFS to the startup. The server is a Red Hat 9.0 machine and I added NFS to the startup services using their GUI tool. When the machine reboots I can see NFS starting up.

As for the Slackware client startup (using existing scripts), rc.inet2 and rc.nfsd are both executable and I made no changes. After a reboot a rpcinfo -p command only shows portmapper running.

Try editing your exports file without the sync and only having maybe (rw).

That didn't do it. I'm almost positive that the client machine isn't starting all the necessary daemons/services and that is why it is unable to receive. What services MUST be shown when running an rpcinfo -p command? How can I start/restart all the necessary daemons/services? I have nfs-utils and portmap packages installed, am I missing any?

If the client is running Slackware, look in your /etc/rc.d directory. There you will find your startup scripts. Make sure you have the NFS client specific uncommented in your rc.nfsd, rc.inet2 and then whatever runlevel you boot into.. say for instance rc.M if you boot into runlevel 3, etc.

After taking a closer look at the Slackware startup scripts I noticed that NFS would not load at startup without an entry in the /etc/exports file. I added an entry and now NFS comes up completely at startup.

Starting NFS Services:
/usr/sbin/exportfs -r
/usr/sbin/rpc.rquotad
/usr/sbin/nfsd 8
/usr/sbin/mountd --no-nfs-version 3
/usr/sbin/rpc.lockd
/usr/sbin/rpc.statd

rpcinfo -p command now shows running instances of portmapper, rquotad, nfs, nlockmgr, mountd, and status

Unfortunately, I am still receiving the same "Unable to receive error" when I try:

mount -t nfs [serverip]:/remote/dir /local/dir

I am able to ping both machines on the network, but not connect via NFS. I still think the problem is the client, but I can't figure out what is missing.

?