[comp.protocols.appletalk] Gatorbox, NFS, and SunOS 4.0

jeff@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Stearns) (02/28/89)

In article <8902240445.AA17306@kerry.cs.williams.edu> rbw@WILLIAMS.EDU writes:
>Has anyone configured a Gatorbox to mount a SunOS 4.0 volume through
>NFS?  I can get it to run under 3.5, but 4.0 denies it access to
>mounting the directory.  
>
>I am trying to use files for user authentication on the Gatorbox.  The
>yellow page interface (which works quite well with 3.5) won't work 
>because of a new verification scheme by Sun.  So I tried to set it up
>to use some specially created files.  That is, a basically reconstructed
>3.5 passwd file.  I put them in an obvious place, then tried to log in.
>The gatorbox reported error 13 (Access violation) when it tried to mount
>the directory containing the file.  Does anybody have some insights?
>
>-Richard Ward
>rbw@cs.williams.edu		Williams College, Williamstown, MA

Be advised that your server's export list may be larger than the maximum
allowed by AppleShare protocols.  This situation easily arises under SunOS 4.0
when a machine is configured as a server for diskless clients.  The maximum
size is, I suspect, about 512 bytes.  This bug isn't yet fixed in any
release of the GatorBox software, but I expect that it will be fixed soon.

You assert that the Yellow Pages won't work because of "a new verification
scheme by Sun"; this sounds a bit shaky to me.  You might want to consider
this again.  Perhaps you're noticing that the AUTH_UNIX credentials are now
more carefully examined by the Sun's rpc.mountd.  Specifically, the hostname
used by the GatorBox ("GatorBox00nnn") should exactly match the primary
hostname returned by gethostbyname() on the GatorBox's IP address.
(A generally useful rule of thumb is to expect that your Sun software is
doing a poor job of dealing with hostname aliases.)

Know also that packets from the GatorBox packets should generally have IP
source port numbers < 1024; Cayman didn't consistently do this until a recent
release.  You might want to invoke rpc.mountd with the -n flag.  Likewise,
your nfsd's might be performing similar checks; these are controlled by the
kernel's nfs_portmon variable.

Take a look at the GatorBox log file; it provides very detailed information
about the various transactions that take place at mount time.  This will allow
you to determine, for example, whether your server's export list is a problem.
-- 
    Jeff Stearns        John Fluke Mfg. Co, Inc.               (206) 356-5064
    jeff@tc.fluke.COM   {uw-beaver,microsoft,sun}!fluke!jeff
						  
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