odd problems umounting nfs filesystems (fwd)

Lindsay Haisley (fmouse@fmp.com)
Tue, 3 Sep 1996 09:11:13 -0500 (CDT)

"Thus spake David Monro"
> Date: Tue, 3 Sep 1996 10:42:11 +1000 (EST)
> From: David Monro <davidm@gh.cs.usyd.edu.au>
>
> Hm - I am having strange problems when I reboot my system - umount seems to
> hang when unmounting the nfs mounted filesystems. To take the machine down
> cleanly I have to take it into single user mode and do all the umounts by hand
> - interrupting a hung umount and starting it again seems to do the trick. Often
> I end up with the fs unmounted but still listed in /etc/mtab. Strange.
>
> I know someone else is seeing problems with the automounter not unmounting
> properly - anybody else see the same phenomenon?

I've seen NFS problems for some time, going clear back to the 1.2.x series.
If I mount my CD-ROM on machine A (where it lives) and then NFS mount it on
machine B, everything works fine. Reversing the process is somewhat more
difficult. Unmounting the NSF mount on machine B goes OK, however
apparently machine A doesn't get the message, since attempting to unmount
the CD-ROM on machine A generally (but not always) results in a "filesystem
busy" (or it may be "device or resource busy") message. Sending a HUP to
mountd always loosens up the stuck state, but sometimes kills mountd as
well. I've kind of accepted it as The Way Things Are, since I don't use the
CD-ROM that often, but it's annoying since the CD-ROM gate won't open while
the filesystem is mounted. My CD-ROM is in an sbpcd module.

-- 
Lindsay Haisley          | "Everything works     |   PGP public key
FMP Computer Services    |       if you let it"  |   available via
fmouse@fmp.com           |    (The Roadie)       |   Internet finger
http://www.fmp.com       |                       |