[lug] Kernel NFS problems?

[Bear Giles]

Peter Hutnick wrote:
> Bear Giles said:
> 
>>Have other people had problems with kernel NFS servers?  Esp. with
>>Mozilla?  Or could this be a problem with mixed kernel versions
>>(2.4 on server, still running 2.2 on client)?
> 
> By NFS do you mean Network File System?  I'm pretty confident that Mozilla
> doesn't know anything about NFS.

I never said it was aware of NFS per se, but it could be trying to 
use some advanced feature that's solid on ext2 or jfs or the like 
but flaky under NFS.  Maybe file locking, maybe something else.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but the documentation suggests that 
the user-space NFS server has more features than kernel-space NFS 
server so it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that some 
applications may be stable on a user-space server but flaky on a 
kernel-space one.

> In my (somewhat limited) experience Linux to Linux NFS "just works."

Some of my applications have worked on local mounts, but failed on 
NFS mounts.  But it's very consistent and easily identified, e.g., 
  flock() failing unless lockd is running. (IIRC)

> Going between platforms can be flaky.  It might be worth your time to
> upgrade the client anyway.

Oh, that's been on my laundry list for a few years now....  My 
hard disk is so old that when I get back from long trips I have to 
let the system warm up for 30 minutes then drop it a couple feet 
before it will boot.  (Seriously - the lubricant locks up and the 
disk spins too slow to be read reliably enough to boot.)

But every time I build a new boot disk it finds its way into a 
different system.  *sigh*

> Hope that helps a little.  If not, send a more descriptive question to the
> list.

If I had more details, I would offer them.  But all I have right 
now is that Mozilla, alone, will stop updating for some minutes 
then (usually) start working again.  It may be an issue with the 
cache, or it could be related to my cable modem flaking out since 
the storm.