Unable to start the nfs-server.service because unable to resolve hostname

Solution Unverified - Updated -

Environment

  • RHEL 7.2
  • libnfsidmap-0.25-12.el7.x86_64
  • nfs-utils-1.3.0-0.18.el7.x86_64

Issue

  • Starting the NFS service we get the following error message, when one of the client is down or DNS is unable to resolve a
    hostname
# systemctl restart nfs.service 
Job for nfs-server.service failed because the control process exited with error code. See "systemctl status nfs-server.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

Resolution

Diagnostic Steps

As shown below it is failing as it is unable to resolve foobar.com

# systemctl status nfs-server.service
● nfs-server.service - NFS server and services
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nfs-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2015-12-04 09:56:08 IST; 8s ago
  Process: 21370 ExecStopPost=/usr/sbin/exportfs -f (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 21366 ExecStopPost=/usr/sbin/exportfs -au (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 21362 ExecStop=/usr/sbin/rpc.nfsd 0 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 21273 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/rpc.nfsd $RPCNFSDARGS (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 2714 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/exportfs -r (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 21273 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Dec 04 09:56:07 srv1-rhel7.example.com systemd[1]: Starting NFS server and services...
Dec 04 09:56:08 srv1-rhel7.example.com exportfs[2714]: exportfs: Failed to resolve foobar.com <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Dec 04 09:56:08 srv1-rhel7.example.com exportfs[2714]: exportfs: Failed to resolve foobar.com <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Dec 04 09:56:08 srv1-rhel7.example.com systemd[1]: nfs-server.service: control process exited, code=exited status=1
Dec 04 09:56:08 srv1-rhel7.example.com systemd[1]: Failed to start NFS server and services.
Dec 04 09:56:08 srv1-rhel7.example.com systemd[1]: Unit nfs-server.service entered failed state.
Dec 04 09:56:08 srv1-rhel7.example.com systemd[1]: nfs-server.service failed.

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2 Comments

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VM Community Member 21 points
29 October 2017 11:14 AM

I have same issue, but my pkg version is like nfs-utils-1.3.0-0.21.el7.x86_64 Can some one help me on this?

KS Newbie 9 points
19 September 2020 7:38 PM

As a possible solution, one should check whether the NFS services are enabled or not, and perform the below steps.

systemctl enable nfs systemctl start nfs

service nfs status

Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status nfs.service ● nfs-server.service - NFS server and services Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nfs-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Drop-In: /run/systemd/generator/nfs-server.service.d └─order-with-mounts.conf Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2020-09-19 22:07:29 EAT; 6min ago Process: 3515 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/rpc.nfsd $RPCNFSDARGS (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE) Process: 3513 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/exportfs -r (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 3515 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

systemd[1]: Starting NFS server and services... rpc.nfsd[3515]: rpc.nfsd: writing fd to kernel failed: errno 111 (Connection refused) rpc.nfsd[3515]: rpc.nfsd: unable to set any sockets for nfsd systemd[1]: nfs-server.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE systemd[1]: Failed to start NFS server and services. systemd[1]: Unit nfs-server.service entered failed state. systemd[1]: nfs-server.service failed.

systemctl enable nfs systemctl start nfs

Redirecting to /bin/systemctl status nfs.service ● nfs-server.service - NFS server and services Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nfs-server.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: active (exited) since2s ago Process: 9656 ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c if systemctl -q is-active gssproxy; then systemctl restart gssproxy ; fi (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Process: 9640 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/rpc.nfsd(code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Process: 9636 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/exportfs -r (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Main PID: 9640 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Tasks: 0 Memory: 0B CGroup: /system.slice/nfs-server.service