NFS4: Couldn't follow remote path

The Server (i.e. the remote path) is ARM, so I hope I have put this post in the right place.

Simple NFS connection as follows:-

Server (Rapberry Pi4 - Manjaro i3 - Latest)

In /etc/exports I have:


/srv/nfs/www 192.168.0.105(rw,sync,no_subtree_check,all_squash)

I then run

$ sudo exportfs -arv
[sudo] password for david:
exporting 192.168.0.105:/srv/nfs/www

Client (ix86 Manjaro i3 - Latest)

The client is 192.168.1.105 and the Systemd Unit File data-nfs-www.mount is:-

[Unit]
Description=NFS www on Webserver
After=network.target
Wants=network.target

[Mount]
What=192.168.1.79:/srv/nfs/www
Where=/data/nfs/www
Options=auto
Type=nfs
TimeoutSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=remote-fs.target

I then run

sudo systemctl stop data-nfs-www.mount
sudo systemctl disable data-nfs-www.mount
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable data-nfs-www.mount

That all goes fine and then I run :-

$ sudo systemctl start data-nfs-www.mount
Job failed. See "journalctl -xe" for details.

journalctl -xe contains the following :-

Oct 03 03:16:07 david-j-white systemd[1]: Mounting NFS www on Webserver...
░░ Subject: A start job for unit data-nfs-www.mount has begun execution
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://forum.manjaro.org/c/support
░░
░░ A start job for unit data-nfs-www.mount has begun execution.
░░
░░ The job identifier is 4326.
Oct 03 03:16:07 david-j-white kernel: NFS4: Couldn't follow remote path
Oct 03 03:16:08 david-j-white kernel: NFS4: Couldn't follow remote path
Oct 03 03:16:11 david-j-white kernel: NFS4: Couldn't follow remote path
Oct 03 03:16:15 david-j-white kernel: NFS4: Couldn't follow remote path
Oct 03 03:16:15 david-j-white wpa_supplicant[1051]: wlp4s0: CTRL-EVENT-SIGNAL-CHANGE above=0 signal=-74 noise=9999 txrate=108000
Oct 03 03:16:18 david-j-white systemd[1]: data-nfs-www.mount: Mounting timed out. Terminating.
Oct 03 03:16:18 david-j-white systemd[1]: data-nfs-www.mount: Mount process exited, code=killed, status=15/TERM
░░ Subject: Unit process exited
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://forum.manjaro.org/c/support
░░
░░ An n/a= process belonging to unit data-nfs-www.mount has exited.
░░
░░ The process' exit code is 'killed' and its exit status is 15.
Oct 03 03:16:18 david-j-white systemd[1]: data-nfs-www.mount: Failed with result 'timeout'.
░░ Subject: Unit failed
░░ Defined-By: systemd
░░ Support: https://forum.manjaro.org/c/support
░░
░░ The unit data-nfs-www.mount has entered the 'failed' state with result 'timeout'.
Oct 03 03:16:18 david-j-white systemd[1]: data-nfs-www.mount: Unit process 38135 (mount.nfs) remains running after unit stopped.
Oct 03 03:16:18 david-j-white systemd[1]: Failed to mount NFS maindb www Mount.

I have searched the Manjaro Forums for NFS but there’s not a lot about NFS.

Internet search brings up very little if I search for NFS4: Couldn't follow remote path.

All directories referred to exist, I’ve checked. :slight_smile:

So I’m now a bit stuck.

@djaywhite, many months ago I faced perhaps a similar problem when attempting to get a pi3b+ running Ubuntu server, to connect to my MX Linux box via NFS.

I found that the problem was due to Raspberry (which I also tested) & Ubuntu Server both running NFS3 & MX running NFS4.

Anyway, for better or worse here is a link to my thread in the MX forum, where I documented my solution (after a lot of research & trial & error):

https://forum.mxlinux.org/viewtopic.php?f=104&t=54210&p=541776#p541776

I hope it helps you out. :wink:

@handy Thanks for the quick reply, I’ll go and check out your link henceforth. :slight_smile:

If needs be you can enable /etc/rc.local in systemd (simplest method imho):

This is a compressive guide.

Arch NFS Wiki

Thanks @Darksky and @handy.

A quick look at the wiki has already told me I need to run nfs-server on the server via systemd (mine is currently inactive).
So I will go away and RTFM. :slight_smile:

It has been years since I messed wit NFS and I saw a lot of things in that wiki from using different versions of NFS and even some distro’s has to use differ mount commands eg. mount -t nfs or mount -t nfs4. Also it mentioned using a machine name instead of an ip address in places. The wiki seemed to try to cover all scenarios.

It could be one of several things - check one thing at a time - then you know where the issue is buried.

  • a missing bind mount in the server’s fstab
  • or the missing export of the server’s root
    /srv/nfs            192.168.0.105(rw,sync,crossmnt,fsid=0)
    

And if I recall correct there is also something with using the IP in the mount unit - I think it has to be hostname.

It could be network related - disable the mount unit and add an .automount unit - then enable and start the automount unit - then navigate to the /data/nfs/www folder and watch if it populates.

/etc/systemd/system/data-nfs-www.automount

[Unit]
Description=Automount nas www
ConditionPathExists=/data/nfs/www

[Automount]
Where=/data/nfs/www
TimeoutIdleSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
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