Are you looking for a solution for the ‘NFS server not responding timed out’ problem? We can help you.

Here at Bobcares, we have seen several such NFS related issues as part of our Server Management Services for web hosts and online service providers.

Today we’ll take a look at the cause for this error message and see how to fix it.

More about NFS (Network File System) and ‘server not responding timed out’ problem

The Network File System comprises of the client-side file system and a server-side file system. The client and server communicate with each other using Remote Procedure Call (RPC) messages over the network. Many common tools such as ping, traceroute or tracepath are available to verify that the client and server machines can reach each other.

But if they are not able to reach then examine the Network Interface Card (NIC) settings using either ifconfig or ethtool to verify the IP settings.

When there is a heavy server or network load, it causes RPC message responses to time out. As a result, the NFS file system reports a “server not responding” error.

This error message specifies that the NFS client doesn’t receive any response from the NFS server end. Also, every message specifies that one NFS/RPC request was sent retrans times and timed out each time. Having the default options of retrans and timeo, this message will be printed after 180 seconds.

What causes ‘NFS server not responding timed out’ problem to arise

Here are the different causes of this error to arise.

1. The problem between the NFS Client and Server

The problem between these two arises when there is an overloaded, misconfigured, or malfunctioning switches, firewalls, or networks that may cause NFS requests to get dropped.

2. NFS Server having a problem

The NFS server contains hardware or a software bug that results in the dropping of the NFS request.

3. NFS client having a problem

The NFS Client having some network misconfiguration, NIC driver or firmware bug causing NFS requests to be dropped. Also, the NFS Client firewall doesn’t allow the NFS traffic in or out.

How we fix ‘NFS server not responding timed out’ problem

Here are a few suggestions our Support Engineers provide to our customers to resolve this error.

• Change the mount options retry, timeo, and retrans to a higher value.
• Change the default value of the parameters to retry=6, timeo=60, retrans=6
• Make sure that on both the client and server-side the NFS service is running.

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Conclusion

In short, this error occurs when there is a heavy server or network load. Today, we saw the suggestions our Support Engineers provide to our customers to fix this error.