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Re: CVS and NFS: Questions


From: Larry Jones
Subject: Re: CVS and NFS: Questions
Date: Thu, 9 Oct 2003 17:30:22 -0400 (EDT)

Richard Pfeiffer writes:
> 
> We have a Unix server (dev30) with cvs version
> 1.11 loaded on it that is NFS mounted to a disk
> that contains our repository ( /cvs ).  THIS IS
> THE ONLY SERVER THAT MAKES AN NFS MOUNT TO THE
> DISK THAT CONTAINS OUR REPOSITORY.
[...]
> 1)    Would these issues ONLY occur in matters where
> there was MORE THAN ONE server mounting the
> repository over NFS (because then you are dealing
> with the potential of locked files, etc) ? 

No.  There is a potential problem with locking across NFS, but it has
never been reported as actually occurring in practice and, if it did, it
would just result in a denial of service, not repository corruption. 

> 2)    Asked another way, if we have just one server
> dedicated to cvs and it is the ONLY mount to the
> repository that exists, are we ok or still at
> risk?

Still at risk.  The problem is not with multiple NFS clients, but
with interoperability between different NFS client and server
implementations.  If you use the same NFS implementation for both the
client and server system, you will almost certainly not have any
problems.  Similarly, if your NFS server is a system that's specifically
marketed as a file server and has been tested with a wide variety of
clients, you are unlikely to have any problems.  You are most likely to
have problems when you use a general-purpose system as a server and have
very different NFS implementations on the client and server (e.g., one
is a commercial Unix system and the other is a Linux system).

> 3)    If we are still at risk, then I assume that to
> avoid using NFS mounting, our repository must
> exist on the same server CVS is set up on?

Correct.

> 4)     If so, this will negate our ability to
> quickly and safely re-mount the repository to
> another machine in case the main server fails. 
> Any options to this?

You're just trading one risk for another.  Sure, if your CVS server
machine dies you can mount the disk on another machine, but what are you
going to do if your NFS server machine dies?  Is your CVS server really
that much less reliable than your NFS server?

-Larry Jones

Like I'm going to get any sleep NOW. -- Calvin




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