Why nfsd module is failing to load?

Issue

• During investigation of an issue with NFS, it was found that nfsd module was not loaded.

• However, attempting to load the module manually results in an error, stating there is a syntax error on a specific config file:

  # modprobe -vvv nfsd
  WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/mode.conf, it will be ignored in a future release.
  sh: -c: line 1: syntax error: unexpected end of file                   <---
  WARNING: Error running install command for sunrpc
  WARNING: Error inserting nfs_acl (/lib/modules/<kernel version>/kernel/fs/nfs_common/nfs_acl.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown  parameter (see dmesg)
  WARNING: Error inserting lockd (/lib/modules/<kernel version>/kernel/fs/lockd/lockd.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
  FATAL: Error inserting nfsd (/lib/modules/<kernel version>/kernel/fs/nfsd/nfsd.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)