NFS Question

[Rich Payne]

On 29 Aug 2002, Kenneth E. Lussier wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> I have a couple of (simple) questions about NFS, and I'm sure someone
> here can smack me with a clue-stick...
> 
> 1) If applications are mounted via NFS, and someone runs the
> application, is the processor on the NFS server or the client system
> used? (I'm pretty sure it's the client, but I was told different today,
> so now I'm not sure..)

The client's processor is used to run the app. The server's processor is 
only used in terms of sending the files. So, there's no need for the archs 
of the two machines to be the same (as an exmaple I have a Sparc at home 
with my MP3s on it and play the MP3s from an Alpha).
 
> 2) What sort of problems are there with NFS on Linux? I have heard that
> there are file locking problems, but nothing really in depth. Anyone
> care to elaborate?

NFS in general tends to be very sensitive to hicups and delays in the 
network. One thing to keep in mind is that if you have 'hard' mounts and 
the NFS server goes away, the client will hang. 

At work we have many Linux systems mounting most of their filesystems from 
a Network Appliance server and most of the time there's no trouble. 
Linux's NFS (client) side has come along way as is quite reliable these 
days. I can't speak for the server side (under any serious load), though 
I've heard it has improved.

--rdp

-- 
Rich Payne
http://talisman.mv.com