VMware Communities: Message List - NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

mblake4u — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:12:58 GMT

Hi,

Can anyone please tell me if this is possible with ESXi 3.5 update 2?

Many thanks,
Michael

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

bpowers7 — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:05:46 GMT

I just got this to work on ESX 3.5 by modifying the steps slightly (using ALL of the feedback from within this thread - Thanks All!)

Here were the steps I followed:

NOTE: DO NOT RUN THE COMPILE ON A PRODUCTION MACHINE!

1) As with any modification to an OS, make a backup of the things you're going to possible change. In this case, the modules folder in /lib/modules.

cp 2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix 2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix.old

2) cd /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs

3) nano vmnix.config, search for CONFIG_NFSD_TCP and change the commented line to:
CONFIG_NFSD_TCP=y

4) cp vmnix.config kernel-2.4.21-i686-vmnix.config

5) cd /usr/src/linux-2.4

6) Verify that the 'Makefile' has the required updates. Change the end of the EXTRAVERSION line from ELcustom to ELvmnix

7) make mrproper

8) make oldconfig

9) make dep

10) nano /usr/src/linux-2.4.21-57.EL/include/linux/version.h and edit the following line (or add it if it doesn't exist) THIS MUST BE THE RECORDED BUILD VERSION FROM THE VC CLIENT:
#define VMNIX_BUILD "103908"

11) make modules

12) If the build completed properly, you can copy the newly created nfsd.o module.
cp /usr/src/linux-2.4.21-57.EL/fs/nfsd/nfsd.o /lib/modules/2.4.21-57.ELvmnix/kernel/fs/nfsd/

Service and Firewall Configuration

13) nano /etc/init.d/nfs
14) change line 6 to be:

chkconfig: - 50 20

This causes the nfs daemons to start BEFORE the vmware-late process (which mounts NFS stores) when you run step 13

15) chkconfig --level 345 nfs on
16) chkconfig --level 345 portmap on

17) esxcfg-firewall -o 111,tcp,in,sunrpc
18) esxcfg-firewall -o 111,udp,in,sunrpc
19) esxcfg-firewall -o 369,tcp,in,rpc2portmap
20) esxcfg-firewall -o 369,udp,in,rpc2portmap
21) esxcfg-firewall -o 808,tcp,in,mountd
22) esxcfg-firewall -o 2049,tcp,in,nfs
23) esxcfg-firewall -o 2049,udp,in,nfs

24) nano /etc/sysconfig/nfs and add:
MOUNTD_PORT=808

This forces the mountd daemon to listen on port 808 otherwise it chooses one at random and won't allow inbound connections through the firewall.

Create your /etc/exports file accordingly and verify your mount points are all working.

Restart the server and you will now have a working TCP NFS daemon on the ESX 3 COS. From there, you can export your folder and mount it using the VI Client.

To confirm everything is funtioning, run rpcinfo -p to get the port and transport list of RPC services. The line to look for has "2049 tcp nfs" in it.

If "2049 tcp nfs" is not shown, you probably have the original nfsd.o module loaded. 1st thing to try:

1) service nfs stop

2) Check to see if nsfd has it's module currently loaded by running lsmod. Unload the current nfsd.o module:

rmmod nfsd

3) recompile or recopy the NEW nfsd.o module to:

/lib/modules/2.4.21-57.ELvmnix/kernel/fs/nfsd/

4) Then do a modprobe nfsd. See if it loads - if you get no error, that's a good sign. Do another lsmod and see if it's there.

5) Start nfs again and see if it is listening on the correct port:

service nfs start

rpcinfo -p

6) If all else fails, reboot and see if the correct module is loaded and the ports are open.

Hope that helps!

Enjoy!

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

SHBECKER — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:12:21 GMT

Hi,

I've done this all and NFS is working fine on ESX 3.0.2 for some minutes. But suddenly the NFS-share becomes always inactive. The message I can see in /var/log/vmkernel is:

WARNING: NFS: RPC error 13 (RPC was aborted due to timeout) trying to get port for Mount Program (100005) Version (3) Protocol (TCP) on server (my IP-Address).

Do you have an idea? The output of rpcinfo -p:

100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper
100003 2 udp 2049 nfs
100003 3 udp 2049 nfs
100003 2 tcp 2049 nfs
100003 3 tcp 2049 nfs
100021 1 udp 32770 nlockmgr
100021 3 udp 32770 nlockmgr
100021 4 udp 32770 nlockmgr
100021 1 tcp 32777 nlockmgr
100021 3 tcp 32777 nlockmgr
100021 4 tcp 32777 nlockmgr
100005 1 udp 808 mountd
100005 1 tcp 808 mountd
100005 2 udp 808 mountd
100005 2 tcp 808 mountd
100005 3 udp 808 mountd
100005 3 tcp 808 mountd

Thanks for your help!

simon

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS - SUCCESS !!

madvenu — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 17:32:40 GMT

All - This must qualify for one of those Low Cost - Training environments for ESX 3 !!

My Config:
HP DC7600, 80GB SATA, Additional Intel 10/100 Ethernet card
Emulate IDE via BIOS
ESX 3.0 evaluation

1. Compiled the nfsd.o from yesterday worked fine. Using RColberts procedure after that for firewall and service changes.
2. fdisk /dev/hda
and created /dev/hda6 of 60GB
3. Reboot
4. mkfs.ext3 /dev/hda6
5. mkdir /nfsroot
6. mount /dev/hda6 /nfsroot

7. Installed Virtual Infrastructure Client 2.0 on a Windows XP machine
8. Tried out ESX 3.0 evaluation / host based license.
9. Created a separate VMKernel Network interface (192.168.1.200)
10. On console - exported the nfsshare
nano /etc/exports

/nfsroot 192.168.1.200/255.255.255.0(rw, sync, no_root_squash)

11. exportfs -a
12. /etc/nfs restart -- just to be safe
10. Added NAS share and mounted the NFS share from the console. (192.168.1.1)

esxcfg-nas -a esx-nfsroot -o 192.168.1.1 -s /nfsroot

11. Created a Virtual Machine, started, tried installing Fedora Core

Anybody needing the nfsd.o - do mail me.

regards
venu

Message was edited by:
madvenu

Message was edited by: madvenu, 02 Jan 2008. Attached the original nfsd.zip

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

Erik Zandboer — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:18:36 GMT

Hi,

I have been running this setup for almost half a year now on my testbox at home. I had an ESX 2.5 server with SCSI, and needed more cheap storage. When upgrading to 3.0, I mounted a 250GB IDE disk. recompiled NFS to support TCP, and installed the iSCSI target "iSCSI Enterprise Target 0.3.8". You have to use THIS version because later version only support 2.6.

Just put the VMkernel and the console on the subnet on the same vswitch, and physical network will not even matter

I must say iSCSI works, but is slow as hell (<1MBYTE/sec). NFS on the other hand, is very much useable (at least for me), it measures about 40MBYTES/sec using hdparm, I get around 4-8 MBYTES per second out of a single 7200rpm ATA disk when I copy files from or to it. I had to manually enable DMA on the /dev/hda device though.

Credits do not go to me, but to Reinout Wijnveen. I used his manual to get there:

http://www.vmug.nl/downloads/VMWare_NFS_en_iSCSI.pdf

Unfortunately it is in dutch, but I think you could manage

Message was edited by:
Erik Zandboer

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

MR-Z — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:23:03 GMT

wow, the first I tried the procedure it failed. SO I ran it again, with the extra "make mrproper" and it worked!

I did not copy any system.map. In fact, I could not find that file outside of /boot.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS - SUCCESS !!

joliveira — Mon, 07 May 2007 14:50:34 GMT

Hello,

Can you email me the nfsd.o ?

I was starting investigating this and have an "old" machine work as a test ESX3.

Please e-mail me to jorge.maroliv@sapo.pt (if you have updated instructions, please add tehm)
Tks in advance and best rgds
Jorge

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

utkinpol — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:50:55 GMT

As I can see generally unresolved line differ this way:

U vfs_mknod_Rvmnix_6beee001
in original nfsd.o file

U vfs_mknod
in recompiled file.

same applies to rest of unidentified symbols - they all lack "_Rvmnix_" suffix and number at the end. I cannot recall or may never knew how exactly to fix such things. Does anybody here know about this?

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

utkinpol — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 21:57:45 GMT

Hi,

could anybody PLEASE forward working nfsd.o to utkinpol@yahoo.com email and please explain how did you get it compliled properly on 3.0.1 32039 ESX?

I am not new to linux and do everything correctly but still get this:
depmod: *** Unresolved symbols in /lib/modules/2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix/kernel/fs/nfsd/nfsd.o
depmod: nlmsvc_ops
depmod: lockd_down
depmod: xdr_decode_string_inplace
depmod: svc_reserve
depmod: xdr_decode_string
depmod: svc_exit_thread
depmod: svc_proc_unregister
depmod: nlmsvc_invalidate_client
depmod: lockd_up
depmod: xdr_encode_array
depmod: svc_makesock
depmod: svc_destroy
depmod: svc_create_thread
depmod: svc_recv
depmod: svc_process
depmod: svc_create
depmod: nfsd_debug
depmod: svc_proc_register
depmod: svc_proc_read

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

Paul Lalonde — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:38:31 GMT

Check out my post in the ESX 3 Configure forum. Nice streamlined way to set up NFS with no dependency issues.

Paul

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

devisez — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 00:45:34 GMT

Hi Madvenu,

Is there any chance of you sending me the nfsd.o and map file please?

At the same time, has anything major changed since all this was being discussed...

Thanks

R Lowery

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

devaholik — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 21:08:25 GMT

can anyone email me the system.map and the nfsd.o; no matter what i do i can't get the daemon to start and it has resolve issues.

devaholik@yahoo.com

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 18:28:30 GMT

Fully patched (with all system patches up to 2/1), the VMNIX_BUILD number is 35804.

This number can be found in the VI3 console next to the server version number. i.e. VMware ESX Server, 3.0.1, 35804.

The VMNIX_BUILD definition in ./includes/linux/version.h is important, so don't leave it out.

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

xAyiDe — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 02:30:01 GMT

Btw did anyone get this to load on any laptop?

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

xAyiDe — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 02:29:39 GMT

Can someone mail me the system.map and nfsd.o ?

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS - SUCCESS !!

lirazoo — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 06:50:45 GMT

please , i need the compiled nfsd.o too.
please mail to : tamir.bar-hai@mailpoalim.co.il
Thanks!!!!

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS - SUCCESS !!

rtrotman — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 17:18:58 GMT

Can I get a copy of nfsd.o send to rtrotman@unfcu.com

thanks

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

VMboxes — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:21:24 GMT

There is a typo on:

10. On console - exported the nfsshare
nano /etc/exports

/nfsroot 192.168.1.200/255.255.255.0(rw, sync, no_root_squash)

it should be

/nfsroot 192.168.1.200/255.255.255.0(rw,sync,no_root_squash)

there should't be any spaces

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

joseph.jamieson — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 00:29:59 GMT

I haven't upgraded to the new 3.0.1 patch, so I don't know if there is an update to the service console kernel. If there was, it's hit or miss whether or not you'll have problems.

Basically, it's like this with Linux kernels:

- The linux kernel is monolithic. This means that all kernel functions and all device control software (drivers) are integrated into one large kernel. Kernel Modules were created so that you can load and unload parts of the kernel on-demand, as needed. Kernel modules are generally compiled with the kernel that you'll be running.

- Different kernel options may provide different functions. If a kernel module is compiled against a kernel with support for certain things, the module may make use of those functions. If they are missing from the kernel, it may not. The problem this creates is that if you build a module that is compiled against a kernel not configured in the same way, there's a chance that the functions the module needs are not supported in the kernel. This can cause an unresolved dependency if you try to run it.

- Different kernel versions can cause all sorts of problems even if they are configured the same way.

The version of the service console linux kernel is: (from uname -a)

2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix #1 Tue Jun 13 01:24:07 PDT 2006 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

If they updated the kernel in 3.0.1, but not kernel sources, this could be a problem for you.

If not, you just need to make sure you follow the instructions in bringing in the kernel configuration options, update the custom version, make dep and make modules, as specified in the guide.

Copy the nfsd.o into /lib/modules/2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix/kernel/fs/nfsd, overwriting the one that's there.

Then do a depmod -a. This will update all the dependency information about the kernel modules.

Make sure the old nfsd.o isn't loaded.

If you do an lsmod, you'll see a list of loaded modules:

Module Size Used by Tainted: P
nfsd 86192 0 (unused)
lockd 63024 0 [nfsd]
sunrpc 90964 0 [nfsd lockd]
sg 36612 0 (autoclean)
loop 12432 0 (autoclean)
ipt_REJECT 5152 1 (autoclean)
ipt_conntrack 2144 1 (autoclean)
ipt_state 1536 26 (autoclean)
ip_conntrack 30272 2 (autoclean) [ipt_conntrack ipt_state]
ipt_LOG 4576 1 (autoclean)
iptable_filter 2848 1 (autoclean)
ip_tables 16416 5 [ipt_REJECT ipt_conntrack ipt_state ipt_LOG iptable_filter]
vmxnet_console 21940 1
keybdev 3360 0 (unused)
mousedev 5876 1
hid 23328 0 (unused)
input 6848 0 [keybdev mousedev hid]
ehci-hcd 20576 0 (unused)
usb-uhci 26308 0 (unused)
usbcore 81248 1 [hid ehci-hcd usb-uhci]
vmnixmod 391532 18 [vmxnet_console]

If you see nfsd, do an rmmod nfsd. It should be removed from the list. Then do a modprobe nfsd. See if it loads - if you get no error, that's a good sign. Do another lsmod and see if it's there.

If it doesn't work still, reboot. It's possible another module is loaded causing the issue, and will clear out on a fresh reboot after the depmod -a and new nfsd.o.

Other things to check are to be sure your kernel configuration has been properly set up. After you import the configuration as outlined in RColbert's post, do a make config and make sure nfsd is enabled, with TCP and V3 support. I find that make menuconfig is a lot faster to use since you don't have to skip past a few hundred other prompts first. (You need ncurses-devel for this, and you can use the CentOS 3.7 version HERE: http://centos.osmirror.nl/3.7/os/i386/RedHat/RPMS/ncurses-devel-5.3-9.4.i386.rpm)

NFS is in File Systems > Network File Systems. You can see if the nfsd is enabled with TCP support. It's listed as EXPERIMENTAL.

Check all these things and I'm sure you can get a good compile. Once you do, I would be curious to see if you run into problems like I did - with terrible performance and system "pauses" while using the exported NFS folders. It was basically unusable for me.

For testing, I found that a second box running Microsoft's NFS (part of SFU 3.5) was the easiest to get running with very good performance. There's a guide for this out there too, on that RTFM website. It's very easy, and runs on XP.

Note that you can use the same method of creating the nfsd.o for creating other modules you want the service console to support. Not all of them will work, of course, since it's vmware and the service console is all in league with the vmkernel. I wouldn't expect a lot of hardware drivers to work. However, you can add support for things like read-only NTFS for if you want to import files or vm disks from a USB hard drive formatted with NTFS.

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

magohl — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 17:47:25 GMT

Anybody who has got this to work on 3.01? I have followed the suggestion exactly by using copy/paste but i can not get it to work.

I get the infamous: nfsd.o -- unresolved dependency issues

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!!

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

joseph.jamieson — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 07:59:21 GMT

Okay I guess the "built-in" nfsd.o was loaded, so that's why I got the error. Upon reboot, the problem dissapeared.

So, this works. However, for me, whenever I try to use the NFSd as my datastore, the service continually becomes unresponsive. It will completely lock up; this includes all networking and even any keyboard control on the console of the machine. Suddenly, it will become responsive again, and work for another 10 seconds, then hang again. This only happens when I start a VM that's located on the NFS store.

So, who knows. It all sucks. I can't use NFS nor iSCSI remotely, either. It's just a test box, and local SCSI works okay, so I guess that's what I'll have to live with. You can get refurb 180GB SCA disks for $89 on pricewatch.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

joseph.jamieson — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 08:15:00 GMT

I did all of this, but then it said the server doesn't support NFS version 3 over TCP, which is required. Other then that, everything looks good - module loads,

What am I missing?

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS - SUCCESS !!

bbutler — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 21:05:33 GMT

I'm so close on this...

I've completed all the steps above, and have it "working".

I have successfully shared out /datastor on the my main partition.

So, then I've added a second 500GB IDE drive to my system (/dev/hdb1); and fdisk it to be one single partition.

I then created the filesystem on it.

I then issue the mount /dev/hdb1 /vmdata

Modified the /etc/exports to read as follows

/datastor *(rrw,no_root_squash,sync)
/vmdata *(rw,no_root_squash,sync)

And everything works... But, when I rebooted the system. The /vmdata mount no longer exists.

So... I edited the /etc/fstab file adding the line below

/dev/hdb1 /vmdata ext3 default 1 1

But, the same problem happens. If I go to the console, and re-mount the system by hand, and restart nfs. It works.

Any ideas?

Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:39:28 GMT

Please note that this is a bit messy and I will write up a nicer set of instructions once I have more time.

A little background: I have a server that was a test/demo machine running ESX 2.5 that only had IDE drives. Because of this, when I did a clean install of ESX 3, I learned that I would not be able to access the remaining 50GB of disk on my test machine. Obviously, this frustrated me. After a little digging, I found that the ESX 3 COS supports NFSD but only the for UDP connections. No good when connecting from the VMK which only uses TCP for NFS mounts. Knowing just a little about linux as a whole, I knew that I really just needed a TCP enabled build of the nsfd.o module. The problem was getting one. Below are the steps I used to build the module as well as config changes needed in order to allow inbound NFS connections through the ESX firewall.

Once you have a good nsfd.o file, it can be copied to other machines to bypass the build process. I will post my nfsd.tgz on my company website along with this document when I have time.

NOTE: DO NOT RUN THE COMPILE ON A PRODUCTION MACHINE! -------

1) As with any modification to an OS, make a backup of the things you're going to possible change. In this case, the modules folder in /lib/modules.

cp 2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix 2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix.old

Kernel module changes ** Skip to #11 if you have a valid nsfd.o **
2)
cd /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs

3) nano vmnix.config, search for CONFIG_NFSD_TCP and change the commented line to:
CONFIG_NFSD_TCP=y

4) cp vmnix.config kernel-2.4.21-i686-vmnix.config

5) cd ..
6) nano Makefile, change the end of the EXTRAVERSION line from ELcustom to ELvmnix

7) make oldconfig && make dep
When make config runs, you can skip the questions by hitting enter. To be sure that TCP is enabled, you can look for the NFS daemon section and answer Y there. (If you performed steps 2 & 3 correctly, it will be)

8) nano includes/linux/version.h and edit the following line (or add it if it doesn't exist):
#define VMNIX_BUILD "27701"

9) make modules
(It may not be required to make the kernel itself but I did to make sure it all links)

10) If the build completed properly, you can copy the newly created nfsd.o module.
cp ./fs/nfsd/nfsd.o into /lib/modules/2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix/kernel/fs/nfsd/

Service and Firewall Configuration

11) nano /etc/init.d/nfs
12) change line 6 to be:
# chkconfig: - 50 20

This causes the nfs daemons to start BEFORE the vmware-late process (which mounts NFS stores) when you run step 13

13) chkconfig --level 345 nfs on
14) chkconfig --level 345 portmap on

15) esxcfg-firewall -o 111,tcp,in,sunrpc
16) esxcfg-firewall -o 111,udp,in,sunrpc
17) esxcfg-firewall -o 369,tcp,in,rpc2portmap
18) esxcfg-firewall -o 369,udp,in,rpc2portmap
19) esxcfg-firewall -o 808,tcp,in,mountd
20) esxcfg-firewall -o 2049,tcp,in,nfs
21) esxcfg-firewall -o 2049,udp,in,nfs

22) nano /etc/sysconfig/nfs and add:
MOUNTD_PORT=808

This forces the mountd daemon to listen on port 808 otherwise it chooses one at random and won't allow inbound connections through the firewall.

Restart the server and you will now have a working TCP NFS daemon on the ESX 3 COS. From there, you can export your folder and mount it using the VI Client.

If on restart the NFSd services fail to load, you may need to copy the System.map (export list) created in the kernel build process into the /boot folder. This does not change the actual kernel but because the nfsd.o module needs some exports that weren't previously used, the dependency maker added them to the system map.

cp /usr/src/linux-2.4/System.map /boot/System.map-2.4.21-37.0.2ELvmnix

To confirm everything is funtioning, run rpcinfo -p to get the port and transport list of RPC services. The line to look for has "2049 tcp nfs" in it.

** Edited with fixes from posts ** 8/29/06

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

madvenu — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 17:15:16 GMT

OK All

Finally SUCCESS !!! I finally got a nfsd.o that does not have the dependency issues.

In the above procedure by RColbert , I made the following changes

Step 7:

make oldconfig && make dep

Step 9:

XXXXX DO NOT run make bzImage XXXX

make modules

and everything worked OK. Infact did not even require a reboot !!
Tomorrow I intend to test NFS sharing, and will post a link to the nfsd.o
Anybody who needs the file, do mail me / send a private message.

cherio
venu

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

madvenu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 19:21:39 GMT

Could you mail me the System.map and the nfsd.o files ?

madvenu@gmail.com

Thanks

venu

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

allins — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:34:47 GMT

Had it working, but accidently blew up the kernel, so reinstalled back to this point.
In the /usr/src/kernel directory I next ran
make mrproper
make oldconfig, doublechecked the .config file created for 'CONFIG_NFSD_TCP=y' setting
make dep
make modules
This gave me a new nfsd.o module file that works once I copied it over.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

madvenu — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 03:43:49 GMT

Hello

I did try this procedure, loading sunrpc and lockd manually, and then tried the newly compiled nfsd.o, but still gives me unresolved symbols errors.

regards
venu

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

allins — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:37:45 GMT

Read the man page on depmod, then looked at the modules.dep file in modules/nfsd directory. nfsd depends on sunrpc and lockd. Once I manually loaded sunrpc and lockd with insmod command, then I could manually load nfsd without the "unresolved symbols" errors. Still working on getting the nfsd daemon to start.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

madvenu — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:30:19 GMT

Well with all kinds of trials - I did NOT manage to get this module to work.

Would appreciate if you could post your compiled binary along with your System.map file available for download.

cherio
venu

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

xAyiDe — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:38:17 GMT

In reply to RColbert :

You said in the first post of this thread you ran ESX 2.x on an all IDE/ATA-system. What spec does that system have?

Do you have a guid for running ESX 2.x on ATA?

I have tried working this out with enabling scsi-emulation for ide and that stuff but it was no go. I also changed IDs in Devmaps but no way this worked Either.

As far as I got was to the point where ESX actualy saw my SCSI-emulated IDE drive in the webgui but something said this device could not be added as VMFS volume. I do not remember what error it gave.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:52:19 GMT

I never use the "reboot" command. I just use "shutdown -r now" which is effectively the same thing.

You could also try "init 0" which should also force a restart at the end.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

madvenu — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 17:56:16 GMT

Debugging...

The dependency errors show that other kernel libraries/modules are required.

Path 1:
The only thing I notice that could be different is the method used to restart the machine.
I used the linux 'reboot' command.
For those lucky ones for whom the nfsd.o works - did you also use the same ??

Path 2:
Also - I notice that during a reboot, during the 'Saving VMware config..', the system actually executes a mkinitrd which creates probably the /boot/initrd-XX-XXX-XXX file. (need to verify this)

Does this have anything to do with my failures and others' successes ?

venu

PS: Mike - Thanks for the excellent RTFM site with the VMWARE material you have created - its a GEM !!

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

Mike_Laverick — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 17:27:21 GMT

I didn't get this working either....

as for miracles - remember were not doing anything here that is recommended or supported...

I'm hoping we get a more "idiots" guide approach (for idiots like me) because it must be in the proceedure if some people get the module and others don't... unless there slightly different kernel build floating around - but I would have thought that's unlikely (unless it something like beta/rc1/eval/ga)

Regards
Mike

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

madvenu — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 17:21:07 GMT

Same here -- I have reinstalled and recompiled 3 times now, but still get nfsd.o -- unresolved dependency issues.

What miracle solved this one ?

venu

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

mraisin — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:11:19 GMT

Thought I would mention that I finally got it to work

I'm currently bringing up a WinXP machine on it as

I type!

Thanks for your help all, and the guides to the right
directions!

So what did you do to finally get it working? i am having the exact same problem. please share!

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 21:23:38 GMT

Damn those typos on the kernel version number. It is 0.2.

The source had a - in it when I wrote the steps ... I swear!

My version.h didn't include the VMNIX_BUILD define after I ran the make config and dep so I wrote the instructions that way.

I have updated the steps to incorporate the typo corrections and to edit the VMNIX_BUILD define if it exists or add it if it doesn't.

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

marxk — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:01:17 GMT

I removed that #define VMNIX_BUILD "" and it appears the make bzImage is going a lot further than previously.

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

marxk — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 18:11:46 GMT

I seem to be having trouble accomplishing this process. I have noticed a few differences from from the instructions. I am attempting this on a new install on a Dell.

I assumed that the differences were just typos or perhaps you had an RC install of ESX 3.

In step 1 you specify copying '2.4.21-37.9.2.ELvmnix'. In my installation it is not '..9.2...' it is '..0.2...'

Also in step 2 you specify 'cd /usr/src/linux2.4/configs' while my install has 'cd /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs'

When I run step 9 I get several error messages toward the end and a couple of error codes.

make[1]: *** [vmnix_acpi.o] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory ....
make: *** [_dir_arch/i386/kernel] Error 2

the nfsd.o does not exist at this point.

Also when I ran the make config I checked the NFS TCP option and it was N. I changed it to yes.

Also at the bottom of the version.h file there is a line that says #define VMNIX_BUILD "" since your instructions do you specify anything about previous lines I added the line listed in step 8 below this line.

Any ideas?

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

eLead — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 22:28:04 GMT

Thought I would mention that I finally got it to work - I'm currently bringing up a WinXP machine on it as I type!

Thanks for your help all, and the guides to the right directions!

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

eLead — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:22:11 GMT

Trying the hard shutdown now.

Could something be getting compiled incorrectly?

On step 7, should make dep be run prior to make config, even though make config states to run make dep after it?

I also noticed that I had to create the /etc/sysconfig/nfs file so the MOUNTD_PORT=808 line is the only thing in it.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

eLead — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 18:16:35 GMT

I had this problem on one of my tests.

When re-copying the System.map file didn't work, I
believe that rerunning the make dep && make modules
fixed it but it could have also been related to hard
restarting the server.

After running:

make dep
make modules

Did you then have to copy the System.map from /usr/src/linux-2.4 to /boot/System.map-2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 17:46:08 GMT

I had this problem on one of my tests.

When re-copying the System.map file didn't work, I believe that rerunning the make dep && make modules fixed it but it could have also been related to hard restarting the server.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

eLead — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:08:04 GMT

After you copy the system.map file, try running a
depmod -a to see if it throws any issues.

I get:

depmod: *** Unresolved symbols in /lib/modules/2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix/kernel/fs/nfsd/nfsd.o

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:54:16 GMT

After you copy the system.map file, try running a depmod -a to see if it throws any issues.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

eLead — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:51:17 GMT

mmm,

you doing better than me - i couldn't get my esx to
create the module. don't know what i am doing wrong
though...

Regards
Mike

I did notice that I had to change up step 7 a bit -

Do make config and step slowly (holding down the Enter key apparently doesn't work lol)

Once that's done, make dep

Then proceed through and it'll create the nfsd.o module.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

Mike_Laverick — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:46:55 GMT

mmm,

you doing better than me - i couldn't get my esx to create the module. don't know what i am doing wrong though...

Regards
Mike

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

eLead — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:41:08 GMT

I've been working on doing this with a test environment (an HP BL35p that has 2 IDE drives internal to it, and no space external) and have run into an issue.

During boot I see an error that reads along these lines:

Unresolved symbols in /lib/modules/2.4.21-37.0.2.ELvmnix/kernel/fs/nfsd/nfsd.o

And the NFS daemon fails to load.

I went through the steps to create the nfsd.o, it created it, and I copied it into the directory and verified that it copied over.

Any ideas on what would cause this?

Edit: Also, I did the portion where you copy the System.map over into the /boot/ and renaming it.

Message was edited by:
eLead

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 19:21:53 GMT

New thread w/ iSCSI instructions here: http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=48190&tstart=0

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:35:55 GMT

Mike,

Is it bad when the kernel comes back and says, "bad things happened"? (lol) May be harder than I thought. The iSCSI target daemon seems to have a bit of trouble locking the interrupts so while it can get the drive geometry and report it back to the VMK, it can't read enough to the disk to be useful. Still trying though ... so we'll see what comes out of it.

Would be nice if the VMware devs updated to a newer rev of the linux kernel

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

Mike_Laverick — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 07:09:13 GMT

How is the performance when you do this, does this
effect the entire esx performance, since before, COS
performance effected the entire esx host.

Not for production - but for test/dev - and for those people who don't have the hw for dedicated iSCSI system...

Incidentally, NAS/iSCSI wouldn't effect the VM's as they run under a different kernel. It would most like effect the responsive ness of the ESX host for management...

Regards
Mike

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

Mike_Laverick — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 07:07:37 GMT

Mike,

I have some good news ... I have a partially working
iSCSI driver that runs on the COS! Just have a bit
more work to do and I'll be able to write up the
instructions.

Sweet! Waiting with baited breath!

Regards
Mike

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

ehinkle — Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:39:22 GMT

How is the performance when you do this, does this effect the entire esx performance, since before, COS performance effected the entire esx host.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 20:21:20 GMT

Mike,

I have some good news ... I have a partially working iSCSI driver that runs on the COS! Just have a bit more work to do and I'll be able to write up the instructions.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

gareth60 — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:23:07 GMT

Hi ya,

I've managed to get this to work on a Dell GX270 and I have next to no Linux knowledge.

Wow, i'm impressed... I'm gonna try my laptop next...

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 22:19:18 GMT

Unfortunately, I don't think that service will work for us w/o some major help. The kernel the COS is built on is 2.4.21. The readme says it needs 2.6.14 or newer. I'll see if the build options needed for crypto are present as an option in this kernel though to see what happens.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

Mike_Laverick — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 21:36:52 GMT

Hi

It's here

http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/?page_id=7

In the storage section... i reckon if you can export the kernel for Service Console - you can do set it up as an iSCSI target....

Regards
Mike

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 19:19:08 GMT

Point me over to your guide for iSCSI and I'll see what I can come up with No promises though as I haven't played w/ iSCSI at all yet.

Re: Instructions for enabling NFS over TCP on the ESX 3 COS

Mike_Laverick — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 18:55:06 GMT

This is really very cool - and i can't wait to try on my lab server...

Do you think you could look at Enterprise iSCSI and ESX act as iSCSI target... that way I could present LUNs and format them as VMFS...

My admin guide has a how to do this with Fedora Core 5 - but I would like to be able to do this with ESX...

Of course, this is totally nuts and shouldn't be done... but I would like to try... I am gonna try your instructions tommorow...

Regards
Mike

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 16:48:08 GMT

Actually, I was attempting this so that I could run a fully functional demo ESX on a server that was previously used for ESX 2.5 running IDE hardware. I knew it wouldn't be a simple thing to accomplish hence the question however, I have come up with a solution that works. I am in the final stages of testing it and writing up some documentation that I will post here.

I will say that it works exactly like I expected but getting all the ports properly assigned into the ESX firewall was a bit of a pain.

Re: NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

Mike_Laverick — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 21:40:43 GMT

Can I ask why you want to do this...?

IF, its an attempt to make ESX a NAS datastore for other ESX hosts - don't bother... it's not a TCP version 3 impleamentation - which is one of the requirements for full NAS supported...

Regards
Mike

NFS Export from ESX 3 COS

RColbert — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 20:12:49 GMT

I am trying to find a way to export an IDE partition from the console of an ESX 3.0 server. I can export it and have access via a UDP nfs session but for reliability, I want a TCP connection. Does anyone know how to make the console nfsd export via TCP? When I do an rpcinfo -p, it only shows UDP listeners for nfs.