Remote mount failed

If mount fails for any reason, check the sections below for specific details about what to do. They are arranged according to where they occur in the mounting sequence and are labeled with the error message likely to be displayed.

mount: can't open /etc/mnttab

The table of mounted filesystems is kept in the file /etc/mnttab. This file must exist before mount can succeed. The file /etc/mnttab is created when the system is booted and it is maintained automatically after that by the mount and umount commands.

mount: / is already mounted, name is busy, or allowable number of mount points exceeded: Device busy (error 16)

The requested filesystem is already mounted.

mount: name or name, no such file or directory

The -f option or server name was probably omitted from the command line. The mount command assumes that a local mount is being done unless the -f flag is used on the command line or the requested directory as listed in /etc/default/filesys specifies filesystem type NFS.

This message also appears when the specified local mount point is not an existing directory.

mount: can't open /etc/default/filesys

The mount command tried to look up the information needed to complete a mount request in /etc/default/filesys, but there was no such file. As the system administrator, you need to create this file as part of initial system setup.

mount: sys_name not in hosts database

The system name specified on the mount command suffixed by the ``:'' is not listed in the file /etc/hosts or with the Domain Name Service (DNS). Check the spelling of the host name and the placement of the colon in the mount command.

mount: directory argument name must be a full pathname

The second argument to mount is the path of the directory to be covered. This must be an absolute path starting at slash (/).

mount: ... server not responding(1):
RPC_PMAP_FAILURE - RPC_TIMED_OUT

Either the server to which the mount is being attempted is down or its portmapper is dead or hung. Attempt to log in to that machine; if you succeed, then the problem may be in the portmapper. Run the following command from your system as root to test the portmapper on the server system:

rpcinfo -p host_name

If the resulting display does not show the portmapper, stop and restart NFS on the server with these commands:

nfs stop
nfs start

If the server is up but it is not possible to reach it using ping, check the client's network connection by trying to ping another machine. Also, check the server's network connection.

mount: ... server not responding:
RPC_PROG_NOT_REGISTERED

mount got through to the portmapper, but the NFS mount daemon mountd was not registered. Check the server to ensure that /etc/mountd exists and is running.

mount: /dev/nfsd or directory_name, no such file or directory

Either the remote directory does not exist on the server or the local directory does not exist. Again, note that /dev/nfsd is always printed to represent the remote directory.

mount: access denied for sys_name:name

The client machine on which the mount attempt is being made is not in the server's export list for the filesystem to be mounted. A list of the server's exported filesystems can be obtained by running:

showmount -e host_name

If the desired filesystem is not in the list or the machine name is not in the user list for the filesystem, then check the /etc/exports file on the server for the correct filesystem entry. A filesystem name that appears in the /etc/exports file but not in the output from showmount indicates a failure in mountd. Perhaps it could not read that line in the file, or it could not find the filesystem, or else the filesystem name was not a locally mounted filesystem. See exportfs(NADM) and exports(NF) for more information.

This message can also be an indication that authentication failed on the server. It may be displayed because the machine that is attempting the mount is not in the server's export list; check the server's /etc/exports file.

mount: name: no such file or directory

The remote path on the server is not a directory.

mount: not super user

The mount command can be used only by root, because it affects the filesystem for the entire machine.