So I was trying to mount a directory containing around 500 music files that is located on a remote storage drive (FireWire). I am absolutely positive permissions are ok, the following lines are in /etc/exports and /etc/hosts.allow on the box serving the directory:

So if this directory was located on a local ext2/ext3 filesystem chances are it would mount from 192.168.2.1 or 192.168.1.100 without a problem.

I was trying anything I could think of and just before the point of desperation I realized something:

The folder is on the remote drive (WD MyBook) which is formatted with NTFS...it was quite a comical moment for me!

Is it possible to mount NTFS volume using NFS or over a network with another utility? Or should I just find another solution?

All responses/advice appreciated.

The WD MyBooks have a spotty rep on all OSs. Most people seem to be using the usb connection.
From a firewire device, there should be ne need to use any special networking - firewire is a high-speed/low-cost serial bus system.
http://www.linux1394.org/faq.php

The network attached storage versions use ethernet though. So I think you need to know exactly which mybook this is.

BTW: in order to mount an NFS share, it has to be served as such... is there an NFS server on the mybook?

I may not have explained the layout very well.

Here is what I have:

Server PC <---Ethernet---> Desktop PC <---FireWire---> MyBook

There are various reasons for having the MyBook ext storage connected to the Desktop over the Server. The main one being the server only has USB1.1.

So anyway, what I'm trying to do is mount the MyBook on the Server using NFS.

Should I just try to use samba instead?

Thanks

Or... more accurately, you want a solution which will allow the MyBook to be accessed on the server.

I can see what you mean though. Since the mybook is already mounted (via ntfs-3g?) on the desktop, it is tempting just to export the mountpoint as an nfs share.

So - on the desktop, you will have the nfs server running.
The mountpoint is /media/mybook , but the files you want to export are in /media/mybook/music

I'd be tempted, just for tidyness, to bind that to another mountpoint, say home/share/music or /public/music or something - depending on your directory structure.

A cute test is to export a regular ext3 (whatever you use) directory normally, so it works. Then add a link in that directory pointing to /media/mybook/music and see if the server-box can follow the link? Also, as a control, add a link pointing at something on a unix fs. This will save on reading.

(or just export /media, then try /media/mybook - makes sure you've got the nfs part right)

You're not the only one puzzling over this:
http://suseforums.net/index.php?showtopic=40959

The ntfs-3g FAQ says:
And there you have it.


NFS seems to be getting more attention these days.

Yeah then when it didn't work I was like wth!? And quickly gave up lol.

It should, its so sexy lol. I always have to wrestle Samba to get it to work right.

Thanks so much for the advice. I'll post on my findings.

Yeah - me too. I just had a week trying to figure why the windows network shares would show up sometimes but not others and found out that this is pretty much normal/expected behavior. MS users think nothing of rebooting a few times to clear such issues.

My issue was that there are lots of laptops on this network which are always coming and going. So the answer was to set the only permanent machine as the permanent master browser, and tell all the laptops not to try to be.

Even so, if I introduce two laptops close together - it can take a while.

Thank you for your help sir.

I just turned to mounting via Samba. NFS wasn't taking it, at least the way its installed.

I did spend some time trying to figure out why I didn't have mount.smb or smbmount etc. After uninstalling/installing samba packages like a goon I just Googled and found that those are depreciated and to use mount.cifs.

Usage is identical:
ex:

for /etc/fstab its like this

mine looks like this

And /home/sean/webdir is actually a symbolic link. It accepted that just fine as I expected.

The info/examples are there in hopes someone with problems will find it through Googling. I say that because I assume you already know all of it.