Re: mount: unknown filesystem type 'nfs'

[Marty <martyb@ix.netcom.com>]

Dan Fulbright wrote:
> > > > > When I try to mount an NFS filesystem, I get this error:
> > > > >
> > > > > mount: unknown filesystem type 'nfs'
> > > > >
> > > > > Here's the mount command I'm using on host2:
> > > > >
> > > > > mount host1.domain.com:/tmp /mnt
> > > > >
> > > > > On host1.domain.com, I have this in /etc/exports:
> > > > >
> > > > > /tmp host2.domain.com(ro,sync)
> > > >
> > > > Do a `grep nfs /proc/filesystems' and see what you get back. This will 
> > > > let you know if currently there is nfs support.
> > > >
> > > > If nothing, try `modprobe nfs' and give it another shot. If that doesn't 
> > > > work, make sure that NFS client support was actually included with your 
> > > > kernel build.
> > >
> > > Here's what I get:
> > >
> > > rh2:~# grep nfs /proc/filesystems
> > > rh2:~# modprobe nfs
> > > modprobe: Can't locate module nfs
> > >
> > >
> > > > Is your kernel custom, debian built, etc?
> > >
> > > AFAIK, it's a stock Debian kernel (I didn't do the actual install):
> > >
> > > host2:~# uname -a
> > > Linux host2.domain.com 2.4.26-bf2.4 #1 SMP Wed May 26 08:34:11 PDT 2004 
> > > i686 GNU/Linux
> > >
> > > This machine didn't exist in May 2004, so the kernel certainly wasn't 
> > > built on this machine. Sorry, but I'm not familiar enough with Debian 
> > > (yet) to find out what kernel package I have installed.
> >
> >
> > Have you actually checked that you have NFS support?  What does
> >
> > 	grep NFS /boot/config*
> >
> > give you?
>
> It gives me nothing, but it also gives me nothing on host1, where NFS is 
> working fine.
>
> --df

Alternatively you can check for a /usr/src/linux-2.4.26-bf2.4/.config file,
(or similarly named kernel build source directory), or try "lsmod |grep nfs"
and see if there is anything that looks like a kernel server (in 2.6.* kernels
the compile option flags are NFSD, NFS_V3 and NFSD_TCP, and the module names
may be similar).  The immediate goal here is to see if your kernel supports
kernel nfs.

On the other hand, there could be another reason why nfsd bails out and as I
pointed out before, default nfs error reporting seems to be very lacking,
but there should be ways to improve the error reporting.

The only thing that makes me tentative here is your use of the nfs kernel server,
which I am completely unfamiliar with, and I don't know why nobody else has
spoken up by now.

BTW I was not even aware that it was considered stable in 2.4 kernels.
Is there some special reason why you need it?  NFS-V3 required by the
requisition?  Blistering server speed?  Finicky users demanding lightning-quick
automounts?