[lug] CentOS 5.4 NFS Install Problems

[Maxwell Spangler]

No success getting my CentOS 5.4 NFS install problem tonight and I'm not
ready to give up.  Anyone want to help solve my puzzle?

Goal: Install CentOS 5.4 by booting a local image and then installing
files via an exported nfs share instead of local media.

The test environment is my laptop running Fedora 12.  I'm using
VirtualBox to work with CentOS.  I have one VM with CentOS installed
(CentOS-Installed) and operating and another VM (CentOS-NFS) where I'm
trying to boot a local CentOS image and then shift to an nfs install.
This is the part that is failing.

Normally I host the CentOS DVD as an ISO on my host (F12) system,
mounting it via loopback so it appears on the F12 system as if it were a
mounted DVD.

I then export this mount via nfs to do the nfs install.  I test the nfs
access by mounting it from the already installed CentOS VM
(CentOS-Installed) and from a second physical laptop.  No problems: the
laptop and the CentOS VM can see the root installation files on the
CentOS ISO.

Whenever I try to boot the new VM for CentOS-NFS-Install testing, I can
boot quickly, bridge to the Fedora 12 host's eth0 to obtain a network
interface, and the install VM can be pinged from the host and other
machines.  It simply doesn't like to mount the install nfs from the
Fedora 12 host.

I've done a variety of things like disabling the firewall, disabling
SeLinux, etc.  Brute force insecurity!

What does work is popping a CentOS 5.4 DVD into the physical dvd drive
on the Fedora 12 host, mounting it as a DVD within the already installed
CentOS 5.4 VM and exporting it as an nfs directory.  Then, I can point
the new CentOS-NFS-install VM to the CentOS-Existing-VM and it proceeds
with an NFS install.

This leads me to believe that CentOS 5.4 doesn't like Fedora 12 NFS
servers, but someone's stated this should work.

I'd still like to know whether the CentOS 5.4 install is trying to do
nfs3 vs nfs4 as there are definitely significant differences between the
two.. 

Any suggestions?  Thanks for your time!

-- 
Maxwell Spangler
========================================================================
        Linux, Unix and Database Administration
        Currently: Boulder, Colorado
        LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellspangler