I have an ubuntu server 6.06 with nfs share setup on a particular folder for any computers in my local network. I have no problems mounting the share in one of my ubuntu 8 client machines, but when I try the exact same mount in my other machine I get interminable clocking. The client /var/log/messages shows this message:

nfs:server 192.168.1.5 not responding, still trying

That's the correct static ip of my server. I can ping it with a strong connection from the client computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The obvious things to look at are /etc/exports and /etc/hosts.deny on the server, and /etc/hosts on both server and client. Some part of the setup probably says that your other machine isn't allowed to connect.

Thanks, yes I should have provided those values. Maybe something's amiss:

The client ip address of the pc that is problematic is 192.168.1.107
The client /etc/hosts on the pc that is problematic is:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 problemclientusername-computername
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhost

The client ip address of the pc that is able to mount the share is 192.168.1.100
The client /etc/hosts on the pc that is able to mount the share is:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 goodclientusername-computername
::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

The server /etc/hosts.deny has the following settings:
portmap:ALL
lockd:ALL
mountd:ALL
rquotad:ALL
statd:ALL

The server /etc/hosts.allow has the following settings:
portmap:ALL
lockd:ALL
mountd:ALL
rquotad:ALL
statd:ALL

The server has a static ip of 192.168.1.5

The server /etc/hosts has the following settings:
127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 servercomputername

::1 ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

The server /etc/exports has the following rows:
/ 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0(rw)
/home/someuserid 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0(rw)
/export 192.168.1.99/255.255.255.0(rw,fsid=0)

The mount command I'm using on both clients is:
sudo mount -o intr 192.168.1.5:/home/someuserid /home/someuserid/Desktop/server

When I try to umount the share that's clocking incessantly on the client I get these error rows (yes twice):
umount.nfs: /home/someuserid/Desktop/server: device is busy
umount.nfs: /home/someuserid/Desktop/server: device is busy

I have to reboot the client pc to get the mount point back to being just an empty folder on the client desktop.

Is there something in the nfs files that looks like it would deny access to the server share?

It doesn't make sense to duplicate the entries in the hosts.allow and hosts.deny, see http://itso.iu.edu/TCP_Wrappers

Thanks I've changed the hosts.deny to have just the one row ALL:ALL
This doesn't have any effect on the client nfs problem of course but reading that article was very helpful!

Any thoughts on what might be causing the server/client issue?

How about extending the timeout option on the client (http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_boo...nt-config.html). http://fixunix.com/nfs/61856-kernel-...ll-trying.html mentions that and other things such as retrans and forcing TCP instead of udp.

Also, BTW, if you want alternate names for the localhost, they go on the same line, not as a different IP

eg


127.0.0.1 localhost servercomputername

instead of

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.1.1 servercomputername

Remove everything in both /etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow!!!
The other thing is, what is the network structure like, from the working client to the server and from the problematic client to the server? If there are routers somewhere, it might be a worthwhile figuring the acls on the path of the problematic client (assuming these two clients are connecting from different segments)

I supposes you alredy have the /home/someuserid/Desktop/server directory created and that the root has access to it (permissions)

Before you do much troubleshooting, what happens when you follow the simple steps from problem client:
-ping server (shld be ok as u said earlier)
-if ok, telnet server on nfs port
-if ok, check the firewall of the client (if any)
-if ok, try #mount -t nfs -o intr 192.168.1.5:/home/someuserid /home/someuserid/Desktop/server