NFS configuration between fedora&debian on Vfat partition

jrosenzw · 03-14-2010, 12:15 PM

Hello,

I have performed NFS installation on debian(as server) and fedora(as client). I made tests for 2 directories. The first one(from a debian home/somedir directory worked perfectly) but the second one not. This second directory is a hard disk partionned on fat32(vfat in my /etc/fstab file).

I have no error with both command :

Code:

exportfs

in debian and

Code:

mount -a

in fedora(performed as root)

But when I try to browse the mounted directory it's full empty.

Here you are the entire file content :

/etc/exports on debian machine :

Code:

...
## First directory in Debian file system
/home/me_user/testlatex 192.186.1.2(rw,sync,subtree_check,root_squash)
## Second directory : A hard disk mounted on Debian file system
/diskmounted/diskname 192.186.1.2(ro,sync,subtree_check,no_root_squash)

/etc/fstab on fedora machine :

Code:

## Accessing to latex directory on debian(server) from fedora(client)
192.186.1.1: /home/me_user/testlatex /mnt/dir_nfs nfs auto,user,rw,nosuid,noexec 0 0

## Accessing to a fat32 disk on debian from fedora(client)
192.186.1.1:/diskmounted/diskname /mnt/disk_name nfs auto,user,ro,nosuid,noexec,hard,intr 0 0

It doesn't work as well for "nfs" as for "vfat"(after /mnt/disk_name)

Have someone an axplanation about this failure?

Thanks a lot.

andrei.wap · 04-02-2010, 11:25 AM

Ok. I just clone your /etc/exportfs and /etc/fstab configuration. Both test server and client box are Debian, but I don't think this makes a difference. It works pretty well.
But I did that with an ext3 directory, as I don't have fat partitions in the server (intr and hard options doesn't count then).
So, as far as I understand, we have 2 major aproaches:
* user permissions: you mounted /mnt/disk_name via root. Root can list files of it? If you mount this as a normal user, you have the same problem? And BTW (I know this sounds stupid) but: Root can list files of this directory IN the server (i mean, logged locally into the server box)?
* mounting issues: You may want to check fstab entry for the native fat partition. And execute df command on the client to make sure the directory is mounted.
Also, I think you should use exportfs -a after you change /etc/exportfs.

Sorry I had no clear answer, it's kind a interesting problem.

jrosenzw · 04-05-2010, 09:57 AM

Thanks for replying

I have succeed to make the server's nfs directory availaible by mounting it(the vfat partition) in mnt and including him into fstab's file for auto mounting in the server fstab file. Then I kept

Code:

## Accessing to a fat32 disk on debian from fedora(client)
192.186.1.1:/diskmounted/diskname /mnt/disk_name nfs auto,user,ro,nosuid,noexec,hard,intr 0 0

instead of

Code:

## Accessing to a fat32 disk on debian from fedora(client)
192.186.1.1:/diskmounted/diskname /mnt/disk_name vfat auto,user,ro,nosuid,noexec,hard,intr 0 0

Now my question is this : by using rw instead of ro in options liste can that make I can save file from the client?

Thanks again to everybody wich try to help me about this question.

andrei.wap · 04-16-2010, 09:23 AM

Ok. It seems to be there are some not-so-clear concepts about this.

You have at least 3 instances where permissions are checked.

Client:
Let's suppose a user tries to have access to /mnt/disk_name. In order to save a file, fs must be mounted with read/write permissions. It is done with the "rw" option, as you already guessed.
So, this line

Code:

192.186.1.1:/diskmounted/diskname /mnt/disk_name nfs auto,user,ro,nosuid,noexec,hard,intr 0 0

should be changed to

Code:

192.186.1.1:/diskmounted/diskname /mnt/disk_name nfs auto,user,rw,nosuid,noexec 0 0

in /etc/fstab. Otherwise, the client system will not allow saving files in this directory, no matter wich are the server settings.
(I also remove the "hard" and "intr" options here. That's because these are vfat specific options, and you should note that you're mounting a nfs fs. The client doesn't know which type of fs /diskmounted/diskname is in.)

NFS service:
The service that exports /diskmounted/diskname has read-only or read/write options too. No matter which are the requests of the client machine, the server will only allow saving files if the directory is exported with rw option. For example:

Code:

/diskmounted/diskname 192.168.0.0/16(rw)

in /etc/exports.

Server system:
Even if you have configured client and nfsd settings to allow read/write operations, directory must be writable by server processes/users (like nfsd itself). You have to check that /diskmounted/diskname is mounted with rw option as you checked in client machine for /mnt/disk_name.

I hope this little explanation will be useful for you. Check mount and exports manual for all available options.