NFS help: "rpcinfo -p server" returns "Connection refused" (solved!)

[Joel Roth <joelz@pobox.com>]

Hi Everyone,

I just figured this out, posting since it appears to be a FAQ.
Short answer: portmap must be listening to the _external_
(not loopback!!) interface.

Also sending this to the Linux NFS Howto author.
-------------------------------------------------------

I'm trying to setup NFS. The machines are on a LAN
using a D-Link 614+ router without any filtering
among LAN hosts.

When I type 'rpcinfo -p' on the server, the appropriate
daemons show up: portmapper, mountd, nfs.

When I type 'rpcinfo -p serverip' from the client I get this:

	rpcinfo: can't contact portmapper: 
		RPC: Remote system error - Connection refused


Network connectivity okay:

* I can ping the server from the client.

* The client can also access the server's webserver.

* Iptables -L shows no filter rules on client nor server (all ACCEPT)

* Wireshark on the server shows that packets are arriving from
  the client rpcinfo request. 

* /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny are empty.

* /etc/exports contains only the one line:

	/media clientip

Can anyone suggest what I can do to get the right
result from rpcinfo??

Answer:

	server-$ ps ax | grep portmap

	1234     /sbin/portmap -i 127.0.0.1

<ding!>

Yes, boys and girls. When debian starts portmap, it looks at
/etc/default/portmap. In my case, portmap had been configured
portmap to use the loopback interface, so it didn't see
packets coming from the network. Running the command

	dpkg-reconfigure portmap

or simply commenting out the OPTIONS line in /etc/default/portmap
solves the problem. Of course it is necessary to 
restart portmap and nfs-user-server (i.e. mountd and nfs.)

Happy holidays (and working networks!)

-- 
Joel Roth