Re: nfs installs of 5.1

Thierry Herbelot writes:
 > Le Monday 07 July 2003 22:02, M. L. Dodson a écrit :
 > > Background:
 > > I posted this on questions, but got no response.  Since this used
 > > to work, I thought it might be a 5.x issue.
 > 
 > indeed, see later
 > 
 > > $subject seems broken for me for 5.1 miniinst.iso
 > >
 > > Export /cdrom from 10.2.1.4; exports line:
 > > /cdrom -maproot=0 -alldirs -network 10.2 -mask 255.255.0.0
 > >
 > > Nfs server setup, on 4.8-STABLE, is well tested and known to
 > > work.
 > >
 > > When prompted for nfs info during install, give 10.2.1.4:/cdrom,
 > > netmask 255.255.0.0 (same subnet as target machine) -> configure
 > > install target network (ip 10.2.1.200) -> get error:
 > >
 > > Error mounting 10.2.1.4:/cdrom on /dist: no such file or directory
 > >
 > > On ttyv4 find error messages (hand copied):
 > > mount_nfs: can't update /var/db/mountdtab for 10.2.1.4:/cdrom
 > > mount_nfs: Operation not supported by device
 > >
 > > On ttyv4 I can cd to /dist
 > 
 > this may be due to kernel being unable to dynamically load nfs_client.ko
 > 
 > I saw this when building a jumpstart server for 5.1 (PXE automatic install 
 > from another 5.1 server).
 > 
 > I went around by stopping the boot loader in the boot phase, loading manually 
 > the nfs module, then proceeding with the install.
 > 
 > 	TfH

That certainly makes sense.  I might gently suggest to RE, etc
that they might want to reconsider the decision to put nfs on the
extra drivers floppy (I assume that is where it is).  This really
trips up newbies (and some of us not so newbies).  I ran across
this trying to help someone install 5.0 for the first time.  He
had a bunch of machines to install (no cdroms), so I suggested
nfs and was completely surprised when it did not work.  I
verified that he was not doing something obviously wrong before I
posted.  He was very confused because he consulted essentially
all the FreeBSD books that had anything to say on the subject and
could not see what he was doing wrong (nor did I).

This does not present a good first impression for the project.

The nfs install, being documented in all the books, is much more
important than individual ethernet drivers.  If nfs cannot be put
in the install kernel, then the nfs option should be removed from
sysinstall.  All this IMO, of course.

Bud Dodson

-- 
M. L. Dodson                                bdodson_at_scms.utmb.edu
409-772-2178                                FAX: 409-772-1790