Weird networking problem: mounting disk

[dazvoz]

Consider two machines running Red Hat 5 connected in a local network.

There is a directory on machine2 called m2d. I want to mount this across to machine1, so I made a directory on machine1 called /temp-m2d

mount machine2:/m2d /temp-m2d

And I get a message
mount: mount to NFS server 'machine2' failed: System Error: No route to host.

So you'd think there must be a networking problem...

But I am able to ssh to machine2 from machine1, I am able to scp files from machine1 to machine2. ie in all other aspects there doesn't seem to be a networking problem.

I am able to mount disks the other way: ie I can do things like mount machine1:/m1d /temp-m1d when logged on to machine2.

I have tried using the local IP address 192.168.6.102 instead of the alias machine2, but that had the same result.

I tried adding m2d to the /etc/exports file and running exportfs -ra. Also tried using an automount (adding machine2:/m2d to an /etc/auto.data file for machine1).

What could be causing this? It really seems to be networked except when I try to mount.

[Lakshmipathi]

Can you try and see what happens when you 'telnet' into NFS server port ?
Something like 'telnet <nfs-server> 2049'

[dazvoz]

Telnet also cannot connect.


[root@machine1 ~]# telnet machine2 2049
Trying 192.168.6.102...
telnet: connect to address 192.168.6.102: No route to host
telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: No route to host


Darnedest thing.

[Lakshmipathi]

check this command

showmount -e 192.168.6.102

. If this also doesn't show your export ,then your nfs-server probably not running. If shows the export,may be firewall blocking the nfs-ports ? If its not a production machine, try disabling the firewall with command like "iptables -L" and check again.

EDIT : Sorry, quick note "iptables -L" will list your current settings, "iptables -F" will disable the rules.

[Irithori]

Carefull with iptables -F
Yes, it will delete all fw rules, but not set the default policy for the chains.
And if the default policy is DENY or REJECT (as it should be on a good firewall), you lock yourself out.

You might want to use the iptables init script to stop the fw.

[Lakshmipathi]

Carefull with iptables -F
Yes, it will delete all fw rules, but not set the default policy for the chains.

hihi thanks for the warning and providing right approach to stop firewall

[Irithori]

OT:
Been there, done that.
And this is one of the reasons, why you never buy a server without decent out-of-band management.

[dazvoz]

Lakshmipathi and Irithori, you are gentlemen and scholars and legends. Fantastic help.

I have no need for a firewall on this machine (the fact that it was on was an oversight).

How can I repay you?

[Lakshmipathi]

Glad to hear your issue is resolved

How can I repay you?

By sharing your knowledge with rest of the open source community

[dazvoz]

I'll do what I can...