dear all,
i just configured nfs for the first time from scatch. it was easy. took me
under 20 minutes to do.
8 minutes: reading the howto. actually, i simply skimmed paragraphs that
looked sorta important.
10 minutes: browsed through the google newsgroups to look for mention of
"rpc: connection refused" error. google didn't pan out (but lots of people
asked the same question). i found the answer by going back to the howto.
the funny thing is that the howto is kind of outdated for what i'm using --
the kernel NFS feature, rather than user space NFS.
the kernel space NFS is supposed to be faster, but is also supposed to be
harder to debug. here is the outline of the steps:
1. compile the kernel on the server with "kernel nfs server support"
include nfs 3 support.
2. compile the kernel on the client with "kernel nfs client support"
include nfs 3 support.
3. edit /etc/hosts.allow, /etc/hosts.deny for security here's the deny file:
portmap: ALL
lockd: ALL
mountd: ALL
rquotad: ALL
statd: ALL
and here's the allow file:
portmap: lucifer.diablo.net
lockd: lucifer.diablo.net
rquotad: lucifer.diablo.net
mountd: lucifer.diablo.net
statd: lucifer.diablo.net
4. make the file /etc/exports. here's mine. i simply mount /home on the
remote machine.
/home 192.168.0.4(rw)
5. /etc/init.d/nfs start
6. run rpc.mountd, rpc.nfsd and rpc.lockd on the server. (this was teh step
i was missig that caused the rpc: connection refused" message.
7. on the client,
lucifer# mount satan:/home /home
8. wait a bit
and suddenly, i now have my home directory shared between my 2 computers.
very cool. my bookmarks, my files; everything is available to me on both
computers. no more wondering if i left a particular file on this machine or
that machine...
i'm behind a pretty strong firewall, so running nfs on my home network
doesn't pose much of a threat. although if i'm wrong, someone please speak
up! :)
if anyone has any tips on optimizing nfs or making it more secure, i'm all
ears too.
pete
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