Deploying Suse Linux Enterprise Server
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Configuring the NFS Server
Configuring NFS Clients
To configure NFS Clients you first have to ensure that the User IDs and Group IDs on the server are the same ones that the clients will use. The easiest way to do this with Suse Linux Enterprise Server is to simply utilize the LDAP Server on your server for your workstation's authentication procedure.
Note - You don't need to utilize an LDAP server on your network if you simply just want to configure an export that anyone can read/write to on your network. If you want to do this, follow the last example in the previous section to configure your server's exports and skip ahead to mounting an NFS export.
Configuring LDAP Clients on Suse Linux Enterprise
The process of configuring your Clients to utilize an LDAP database for authentication will vary depending upon the GNU/Linux Distribution you are using for your workstations. Unfortunately, not only do you have to ensure that you change configuration files on your clients, but you must also insure that all the required software libraries are installed and that programs are configured to make use of these libraries.
Since not all Distributions are the same, I am simply going to cover how to configure Suse Linux clients to utilize an LDAP server for authentication. If you are using another Distribution for your clients, please reference their documentation on how to do this.
The Suse Linux Distributions (Suse Linux Enterprise & OpenSuse) include a Yast Module to help you in configuring LDAP Authentication called "LDAP Client". When you launch this module, it will automatically ensure that all the required software and software libraries are installed on your client, as well as allow you to easily configure how LDAP Authentication will operate. These options include:
- User Authentication - This section allows you to set whether or not your Client will utilize an LDAP Server for User/Group information. You can also specify whether or not you will allow LDAP Users to login to the machine.
- LDAP Client Information - This section is where you specify the Address of your LDAP Server, as well as the database that the information is located in. You can also specify whether or not to use encrypted network traffic or even to drop to an older LDAP protocol if your server requires it.
- Start Automounter - This checkbox allows you to start the Automounter Daemon when the computer boots up. This is not recommended for high traffic exports, but can be useful in some circumstances.
- Create Home Directory on Login - This specifies whether or not the machine will automatically create the User's home folder on login. If you are not using an NFS mount for your User's home directory, they you will probably wish to enable this. However, if you wish to utilize an NFS /home directory (think of it as the ultimate "Roaming Profile") then you should not enable this.
The LDAP Client Yast Module also allows you to adjust "Advanced" options, including how passwords are handled, using different LDAP records, etc. when you click on the "Advanced" button.
Configuring the LDAP Client and the NFS Client Modules using Yast
Mounting NFS Exports on Suse Linux
Mounting NFS shares is relatively strait-forward on GNU/Linux machines provided that you have all of the software libraries installed and you have the necessary services running. To test whether or not you are able to mount NFS shares, simply try to mount a share with something similar to:
mount -t nfs sles-test.private.lan:/srv/exports /mnt/test
If the mount succeeds then you can start editing the "/etc/fstab" file on your clients to create all the necessary network mounts that your environment needs. If you are utilizing Suse Linux clients, you can easily do this by launching the Yast "NFS Client" module.
This module allows you to easily ensure that all of the software is readily present on your system, all the required services are running and it allows you to specify any NFS mount that you may need for your environment.
To add additional NFS mounts, simply click on the "Add" button and fill in the required information including; the NFS Server, the Remote Directory, the local Mount Point and any options you may need. These options allow you to adjust how your NFS Client communicates with NFS Servers. For instance, the most popular ones include:
- hard - This specifies that if the NFS Server goes offline for any reason, the applications accessing the share will "hang" or be unresponsive until the NFS Server goes back online. This should always be included in the options for any NFS Mountpoint.
- intr - This specifies whether or not the User can "Kill" an application that is "frozen" since the NFS Server is offline. Most administrators do include this option for their NFS Mountpoints.
- nolock - This option will allow you to not utilize NFS locking for the NFS Mountpoint. Some applications may require this option to be set on User's NFS Home mounts.
- rsize & wsize - These allow you to adjust the performance of your NFS network communications. The value of these options will vary depending upon your network hardware and software. A good start point for these is "8192", but definitely refer to the NFS documentation to optimize your network.
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