Mac OS X 10.4.6 As NFS Server, Client

[mac57]

Has anyone out there managed to get Mac OS X (specifically Tiger) to work as either an NFS Server (other machines can connect to and see shared folders on the Mac) or an NFS Client (the Mac can connect to and see shared folders on the other computer which is acting as an NFS Server), interacting with a SuSE Linux 9.3 (or really, any other Linux box)?

I have been working on this, including using the NFS Manager application, with no luck. The logs on the Linux box tend to suggest that the Mac isn't formating its requests properly, but it may be just that I haven't set it up properly.

If anyone has managed to get this working, could you post the "recipe" you used to get it going? Thanks!

 

[brian]

I have been trying to set up OS X as an nfs client. Ive tried connecting via finder and automount, with no success and very little output to troubleshoot with. Ive read a few not-so-complete walkthoughs, and according to some the nfs server needs to be set up with special directives to support osx as a client.

A bit confusing is the fact that ive found more walkthoughs for setting up samba to facilitate networking between osx and non-windows servers. It's funny to me that people would implement the windows network protocol when you have a native method for doing so.

 

[MacsWork]

Samba is not windows,....CIFS is.
Like DNS vs WINS.

I assume the problem lies in the way OS X transmits the password. Probably in clear text. Set the NFS server allow clear text and see what happens.

 

[mac57]

After working on the problem a little more, I am no further ahead. However, I have refined the requirements at least. What I need most critically is for the Mac to act as an NFS server, so that one of Linux boxes can mount its hard drive as accessible storage. The Linux box in question is set up properly for this - it will happily NFS mount the other Linux box in my humble little home network. Since each of those boxes is running a different Linux distro, I am assuming that I have it set up correctly, not that I am getting away with it since they are both the same distro (which they aren't).

So, I have a properly configured NFS client trying to NFS mount the Mac, but all I get is a message at the client side when I attempt the NFS mount saying simply "connection refused by server"... and this only after a 30s wait or so. On the Mac itself, I have been unable to find any logs that would help me pin point the problem.

I have downloaded and used the apparently well regarded NFS Manager shareware to do the Mac OS X set up of the Mac folder I am exporting (making visible on NFS) and so all of this ought to be correct. Any pointers from anyone? Thanks!

 

[rman]

I have not used nfs in OS X, but I have in the many other favors of Unix. When you set up a NFS server you enable all of the NFS server daemons on the server side. Normally there is nothing you need to start on the client side. Once the server is up and running, you just mount filesystem in question on the question on the client. making sure that the client has the proper permissions to mount.

With that said, You are sure the server side is setup with all of the permissions set?

 

[mac57]

Good question, and it is hard to tell with Mac OS X. This is why I used the NFS Manager shareware to do the work. Afterwards, it looks like all the right daemons are running (nfsd, lockd, etc.), but my Linux box fails to connect. I have completely disabled the Mac's firewall to be sure that this is not the issue, but so far, I have not been able to connect.

 

[xstep]

For client NFS access see http://www.reely.com/darren/xStep/MacOS_Defaults/index.html

Its not a how-to, but shows the setup in NetInfo Manager. I don't think the mounts directory exists by default so you'll have to create it via Directory --> New Subdirectory.

Then with mounts highlited create another subdirectory with the name of the server and directory to be mounted as seen in the linked images.

Then highlite that mount point to add the dir property and the opts property. To add values to the opts property use Directory --> Add Value.

On my openBSD box I have a /etc/exports file with the following line in to recognize a username;
/home -maproot=xstep -network 10.1.0 -mask 255.255.255.0

Also I think I had to add the client to the hosts file in the server.