NFS Question

[pll at lanminds.com]

In a message dated: 29 Aug 2002 15:34:13 EDT
"Kenneth E. Lussier" said:

>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..)

Well, *technically* both CPUs are affected, since the server has to 
do something :)

But no, the system on which you actually invoke the command to start 
the application is the one which actually *runs* the application.

The NFS server has no idea what you did, since it only recieves via 
RPC a request to open a file and send the contents of it to the 
requesting client.

>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?

Well, NFS locking in general isn't that great.  But that's not 
specific to Linux.  The problems with Linux NFS are more that the 
code is just immature and buggy, though it's gotten slightly better 
in recent years.  It's also a little slow compared to other 
implementations like True64 and Sun.  Ironically, from what I've 
heard, Sun's implementation isn't even that great, and their the ones 
who wrote the specs!  I've heard the best implementation is under 
True64.  But I guess that's hardly surprising, since DEC always did 
everything technical very well, they just couldn't sell worth a damn ;)

If you're concerned about using NFS under Linux, knowing a little 
more about what you want to do might help us help you determine 
whether or not it's a good idea.

If you plan on exporting a mail spool via NFS, we'll all smack you 
now ;)
-- 

Seeya,
Paul
--
	It may look like I'm just sitting here doing nothing,
   but I'm really actively waiting for all my problems to go away.

	 If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!