[SOLVED] NFS export mountpoint

[BSquirle]

Hi,

Sorry if this had already been answered somewhere else on this forum.
I did some searched using the search function and google, got a lot of hits on this forum, but never the real answer (maybe I'm just using the wrong search terms ).

So here's the problem:
I've exported a folder using NFS on the network, no problem there, everything is working fine.
But now I want to mount something under this share.
Currently NFS clients get to see an empty folder, so I guess nfsd doesn't leave the current filesystem.
Here's the setup:

\nfsroot - export
--\folder1
--\folder2
----\folder21
------\folder 211 - mountpoint
----\folder 22
--\folder3

To the end user, this should be transparent, the should have to connect to one share and be able to browse their files, no matter where they are.

Can this be done?
The operating system used is Centos 5.4, both client and server-side.

[ptkobe]

I've exported a folder using NFS on the network, no problem there, everything is working fine.
But now I want to mount something under this share.
Currently NFS clients get to see an empty folder, so I guess nfsd doesn't leave the current filesystem.

They see an empty folder, you mean the mountpoint /folder 211, right? They see everything else, right?.

Here's the setup:

\nfsroot - export
--\folder1
--\folder2
----\folder21
------\folder 211 - mountpoint
----\folder 22
--\folder3

To the end user, this should be transparent, the should have to connect to one share and be able to browse their files, no matter where they are.

Can this be done?
The operating system used is Centos 5.4, both client and server-side.

This may be done with a link, but can also be made with a mountpoint.
It may depend on the distro. nfs servers (and clients) differs a bit

see nohide option at man exports (I'm using ubuntu, but it should be similar)

nohide This option is based on the option of the same name provided in IRIX NFS. Normally, if a server
exports two filesystems one of which is mounted on the other, then the client will have to mount both
filesystems explicitly to get access to them. If it just mounts the parent, it will see an empty
directory at the place where the other filesystem is mounted. That filesystem is "hidden".
[...]
This option can be very useful in some situations, but it should be used with due care, and only after
confirming that the client system copes with the situation effectively.

If that doesn't do it, try using a link or post your /etc/exports and /etc/fstab

Regards
Luis

[BSquirle]

Yes, they can see everything else, only the mountpoint folder211 stays empty.
I've tried doing this with a link, but it failed.

Must have missed the nohide option when reading the man pages, thanks for pointing that out. I'll try it as soon as possible (probably tomorrow) and report back.

[BSquirle]

Just tried the nohide option, this seems to solve the problem.
For anyone having the same problem, here are my working fstab/exports:
fstab:

/dev/vgSystem/lvRoot    /                       ext3    defaults,noatime   1 1
LABEL=/boot             /boot                   ext3    defaults,noatime   1 2
tmpfs                   /dev/shm                tmpfs   defaults        0 0
devpts                  /dev/pts                devpts  gid=5,mode=620  0 0
sysfs                   /sys                    sysfs   defaults        0 0
proc                    /proc                   proc    defaults        0 0
/swap.img               swap                    swap    defaults        0 0
/nfs/root/etc   /nfs/root/union/image/etc       bind defaults,noatime,bind 0 0
/nfs/root/var   /nfs/root/union/image/var       bind defaults,noatime,bind 0 0
/nfs/root/tmp   /nfs/root/union/image/tmp       bind defaults,noatime,bind 0 0

exports:

/nfs/root 192.168.152.0/24(rw,no_all_squash,no_root_squash,crossmnt)
/nfs/home 192.168.152.0/24(rw,no_all_squash,no_root_squash,crossmnt)
/nfs/union 192.168.152.0/24(rw,no_all_squash,no_root_squash,crossmnt)
/nfs/root/union/image/etc 192.168.152.0/24(rw,no_all_squash,no_root_squash,crossmnt,nohide)
/nfs/root/union/image/var 192.168.152.0/24(rw,no_all_squash,no_root_squash,crossmnt,nohide)
/nfs/root/union/image/tmp 192.168.152.0/24(rw,no_all_squash,no_root_squash,crossmnt,nohide)

Thanks for your help!