Kernel based nfs server

[6feet5]

Why don't you all do it yourself? This is open source you know

Here's a rough step by step on how to compile your own kernel module for NFS server support.

• First note:
  So far, I haven't been able to make this work. Should you do, let the rest of us know. After all, that is what this community is all about.
  EDIT:Some sleep made it all clearer and it is now working.

• Second note:
  I accept no liability should your bubba go up in flames, become a brick or what ever bad thing you can think of. In other words, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN (but you have my sympathy )!!

• Third note:
  Your bubba is most likely far from as fast as your desktop computer. This means compiling will take time, and a lot of it. Remember, patience a virtue. All good things come to he who waits (yeah, right, but you get my drift, right....)

• Fourth note:
  There may/will be errors during the build. I ignored/worked around them, you have to decide if you dare to.

• Fifth and last note (really, this is the last one)
  I've modified my B2 so I may have packages installed that you don't, in other words, your mileage may vary. You may have to install packages I've forgotten to mention.

Prerequisite
These are the packages that I know for sure you need to install before trying anything else:
- bzip2
- build-essential
- less (ok, so this is not really essential but will enhance your 'man' experience)

Each package is installed using:

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apt-get install <pkg-name>

where <pkg-name> is the package name.


And now that we are prepared, off we go:

1. Log on to your bubba using your favourite SSH client.

2. Get the linux kernel source:

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wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/linux-2.6.26.5.tar.bz2

EDIT: I wouldn't use this for anything like replacing the existing kernel or other important parts. There are probably patches that need to be installed to get a fully working kernel.

3. Decompress it:

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tar xjf linux-2.6.26.5.tar.bz2

Note that your bubba is much slower than your average desktop computer, so give it some time to finish the command before you decide to throw it out the window, reboot it, or what ever desperate action you may take (hey, throw it in my direction ). It is better to add a 'v' to the option list (xjf) so that you see what it is actually doing (but this will make it go even slower).

4. Enter kernel source folder:

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cd linux-2.6.26.5

5. Copy current kernel configuration:

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cp /proc/config.gz .

6. Decompress configuration:

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gunzip config.gz

7. Copy to default settings:

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cp config .config

8. Edit settings (.config) in your favourit editor:

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vim .config

9. Locate the NFSD part and enable it as a module:

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# CONFIG_NFSD is not set

should become

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CONFIG_NFSD=m

10. Compile the modules:

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make modules

Note that this will take time on your bubba, I'm not kidding, make yourself a good cup of coffee and watch a good movie, paint drying or what ever your preferences are, but be prepared to wait.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that you will get some questions about parts of NFS you want support for. I chose to install all that wasn't marked as experimental.

11. Ok, so the movie has ended and the compiling as well, but what the..., an error on crtsavres.o. Fear not:

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make arch/powerpc/lib/crtsavres.o

12. Being stubborn, we accept no failure. Hit it again:

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make modules

(The impatiant one can break with CTRL-C when nfsd.ko, exportfs.ko and nfs_common/nfs_acl.ko modules have been built). The rest will wait (you can always continue with 'make modules' if you were to quick to cancel).

13. And now everything should be complete. We need to copy the files to the right folders. You need root privilegies for this:

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mkdir /lib/module/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfsd
mkdir /lib/module/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/exportfs
mkdir /lib/module/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfsd_common
cp fs/nfsd/nfsd.ko /lib/kernel/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfsd
cp fs/exportfs/exportfs.ko /lib/module/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/exportfs
cp fs/nfs_common/nfs_acl.ko /lib/module/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfs_common

14. Last and final step. Resolve all loose ends:

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depmod -a

15. And finally install it:

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modprobe nfsd

16. No visual errors? Verify it is loaded:

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dmesg
lsmod

And there you have it, kernel module in place
All you need to do next is to install nfs-kernel-server, that should also install nfs-common. Configure the /etc/exports (man exports, for help), /etc/hosts.[deny|allow] (man hosts_access, for help) and you should be up and running. Test it by running:

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rpcinfo -p

You should get a list where nfs is among the entries.

A faster route would probably be to install a cross-compiler on your desktop computer and compile it there, but I'll save that instruction for a rainy day. The impatient may find interesting stuff at: http://kegel.com/crosstool and http://www.google.com Oh, and all this is a whole lot easier on a linux machine. Cross compiling linux kernel stuff on a windows machine is not for the average user, trust me...(hell, it's not even for the experienced one)

Another route is to compile only the missing module, but I haven't figured out how to do that. That is, I thought

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make SUBDIRS=fs/nfsd modules

would do the trick but I got an error on the bubba that didn't appear in my cross-compiling environment. Haven't figured out why yet, but hey, it is working though it took some time

/Johan

[helder]

Why don't you all do it yourself? This is open source you know

It did work! - Thank you . It seems that Excito didn't change the header files very much otherwise I think this procedure wouldn't work.

Just a few notes:

• Besides changing "# CONFIG_NFSD is not set" to "CONFIG_NFSD=m" in the .config file we are asked a few questions while compiling, this is because we are missing some configurations on the .config file. The net result is that the "# CONFIG_NFSD is not set" is changed to

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  CONFIG_NFSD=m
  CONFIG_NFSD_V2_ACL=y
  CONFIG_NFSD_V3=y
  CONFIG_NFSD_V3_ACL=y

  Maybe I should have set CONFIG_NFSD_V2_ACL to no.
• It was not necessary to do the all the "make modules" compilation. To compile the needed modules I've only had to:

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  $ make fs/nfsd/nfsd.ko
  $ make fs/exportfs/exportfs.ko
  $ make fs/nfs_common/nfs_acl.ko

  This takes only a few brief minutes to do, even on Bubba. (It does need "crtsavres.o" compiled, so the first make fails and we have to compile this file just as you suggest.)
• Finally you have some typos on the "install" code, the correct version is:

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  mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfsd
  mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/exportfs
  mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfs_common
  cp fs/nfsd/nfsd.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfsd
  cp fs/exportfs/exportfs.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/exportfs
  cp fs/nfs_common/nfs_acl.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfs_common

Helder

[6feet5]

• It was not necessary to do the all the "make modules" compilation. To compile the needed modules I've only had to:

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  $ make fs/nfsd/nfsd.ko
  $ make fs/exportfs/exportfs.ko
  $ make fs/nfs_common/nfs_acl.ko

  This takes only a few brief minutes to do, even on Bubba. (It does need "crtsavres.o" compiled, so the first make fails and we have to compile this file just as you suggest.)

Funny, I tried that too (and that SUBDIRS part I mentioned), but I got errors saying make couldn't find the targets.
I tried it again now and now it's working. It must have been a typo on my part. You can of course build it all in one go:

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make arch/powerpc/lib/crtsavres.o fs/nfsd/nfsd.ko fs/exportfs/exportfs.ko fs/nfs_common/nfs_acl.ko

• Finally you have some typos on the "install" code, the correct version is:

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  mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfsd
  mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/exportfs
  mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfs_common
  cp fs/nfsd/nfsd.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfsd
  cp fs/exportfs/exportfs.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/exportfs
  cp fs/nfs_common/nfs_acl.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/fs/nfs_common

Oops.. late night hacking has its disadvantages.

/Johan

[carl]

just another me too

nfs-kernel is plain better that nfs-user

cheers
k

We will enable kernel nfsd support in upcoming update, hopefully in the coming week.

/Carl

[maxol]

We will enable kernel nfsd support in upcoming update, hopefully in the coming week.

/Carl

Good news, thankyou.

[whilbone]

Great... I was almost ready to get started on the instructions above but I'm not that much in a rush so I'll just sit tight and wait...

[jonj1]

me too!

[whilbone]

We will enable kernel nfsd support in upcoming update, hopefully in the coming week.

/Carl

Any news on this?

[ahoff]

We will enable kernel nfsd support in upcoming update, hopefully in the coming week.

/Carl

Long weeks in Skåneland ? I did it the "6feet5" way. Took me 15 min. Works great , tanx.

[carl]

Hehe, we have reealy long weeks here
No all our time last weeks have gone creating the recently released bugfix for the bootloader. We are working now on straighting out the last bugs before new update.

/Carl

[paolol61]

up up.
just to make sure you remeber us

[Cohan]

Is the official support for NFS here yet?

[franklinhyde]

Is the official support for NFS here yet?

Any one care to answer this?

[ahoff]

Is the official support for NFS here yet?

Yes it is.
http://forum.excito.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1685

[jonj1]

Thanks to the original posters in this thread for instructions to get NFS running (before it was included in the bubba2 kernel).

I've posted here http://forum.excito.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 08&start=0 about increasing transfer speed by using UDP, may be helpful to some.