nfs_statfs: statfs error = 116

[Marc Schmitt <mschmitt@inf.ethz.ch>]

Dear all,

Server: RedHat 7.3, kernel 2.4.20-19.7smp, nfs-util 1.0.5
Client: RedHat 7.3, kernel 2.4.18-27.7.x, nfs-utils 0.3.3-6.73

Over 200 entries in /etc/exports, after issuing 'exportfs -r', some 
clients keep certain home directories stale.

On the client, the dmesg output says:

nfs: server x not responding, still trying
nfs: server x OK
nfs_statfs: statfs error = 116
nfs_statfs: statfs error = 116
nfs_statfs: statfs error = 116
nfs_statfs: statfs error = 116

bash# ls -ld /home/user
ls: /home/user: Stale NFS file handle

On the server, I'm looking at the traffic from client ('tcpdump -s300 -i 
eth2 -Nt host client'):
...
client.4180178520 > fs.nfs: 112 read fh Unknown/1 4096 bytes @ 
0x000029000 (DF)
x.nfs > client.4180178520: reply ok 32 (DF)
client.4196955736 > fs.nfs: 112 read fh Unknown/1 4096 bytes @ 
0x000029000 (DF)
x.nfs > client.4196955736: reply ok 32 (DF)
client.4213732952 > fs.nfs: 112 read fh Unknown/1 4096 bytes @ 
0x000029000 (DF)
x.nfs > client.4213732952: reply ok 32 (DF)
client.4230510168 > fs.nfs: 112 read fh Unknown/1 4096 bytes @ 
0x000029000 (DF)
x.nfs > client.4230510168: reply ok 32 (DF)
client.4247287384 > fs.nfs: 112 read fh Unknown/1 4096 bytes @ 
0x000029000 (DF)
x.nfs > client.4247287384: reply ok 32 (DF)
client.4264064600 > fs.nfs: 112 read fh Unknown/1 4096 bytes @ 
0x000029000 (DF)
x.nfs > client.4264064600: reply ok 32 (DF)
client.4280841816 > fs.nfs: 112 read fh Unknown/1 4096 bytes @ 
0x000029000 (DF)
x.nfs > client.4280841816: reply ok 32 (DF)
...

I don't know how to interpret this, but the facts are:

- the server x is running NFS, most clients still work w/o problems
- client can not recover from the stale handle and it looks like it is 
spamming the server

My questions are:

- Is this a race?
- Is there a way to get the client working again w/o having to reboot 
(or kill all the users processes and umount the home if that's 
possible)? I tried restarting rpc.statd on the client but that did not help.
- How can I provide more debugging infos if needed?
- Could this be related to the thread "[NFS] nfs errors clutter up logs 
after 2.4.20 -> 2.4.22-pre10", we really see a lot of messages like that 
on all clients

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
     Marc







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