lameNFSxplorer v0.0.7 alpha

Under development: PCMCIA, wireless, etc.
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Patriot
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lameNFSxplorer v0.0.7 alpha

#1 Post by Patriot »

Hmmm .....

This utility is written using the lameSMBxplorer codebase to specifically handle NFS shares. Development started more than two weeks ago and initial alpha testing was done internally with the help of mikeb ... Appearance wise and basic functions is similar to lameSMBxplorer but actual core scanning procedures were re-written for NFS ...

Scanning for NFS servers is done using a modified fping utility (included) and with some tweaking, a full single network scan (for live machines) usually takes less than 25 seconds (internal tests results: 13 seconds minimum, 15 seconds typical). An additional 3-15 seconds (typical) may be needed for shares queries ...

This is to be considered as still under development and is currently slowly progressing to further tune the scanning methods ...


Requirements for use:
1. appropriate NFS kernel modules installed.
2. NFS common utils installed (available below).
3. A properly configured and accessible NFS server .

Usage notes:
1. Ensure that your network interface is appropriately configured.
2. Only reachable local subnets will be scanned.
3. Two modes for scanning: a) full network scan b) by IP list
4. Global options is auto saved.
5. Single click to select server/machine.
6. Double click to select share mount.
7. Right button double click on shares to mount-n-explore.


Rgds


._.
Attachments
lameNFSxplorer-0.0.7a.pet
NFS server scanning done using mpscan (available in all puppy 4 series).
(13.03 KiB) Downloaded 834 times
rpcinfo.tar.gz
Missing rpcinfo binary for puppy 4.31 only. Extract to /usr/sbin.
(4.54 KiB) Downloaded 845 times
nfs-rpc-utils-1.2.1-i486.pet
NFS-common-utils-1.2.1 (nfs+rpc utils combined)
(188.38 KiB) Downloaded 911 times
lameNFSxplorer-0.0.5a.pet
first public alpha release
(23.46 KiB) Downloaded 800 times
fping-2.4b2_to_pe.tar.gz
fping-2.4b2_to source, debian patch applied & slightly modified for lameNFSxplorer use.
(65.68 KiB) Downloaded 842 times
Last edited by Patriot on Tue 02 Mar 2010, 21:08, edited 2 times in total.

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Patriot
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#2 Post by Patriot »

here be dragons

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01micko
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#3 Post by 01micko »

Hello Patriot,

I am missing "showmount" in upup-457, guess it is standard in 431?

Cheers
Puppy Linux Blog - contact me for access

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Patriot
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#4 Post by Patriot »

Hmmm ...

Hi Mick,

No, they're not in any of the standard puppy ... I was assuming that whoever uses NFS would have gotten it from mikeb's NFS thread here ...

Ok, the posted nfs utils pet above is compiled on puppy412 and includes the NFS server init.d script ... If you only need client access, just disable/remove the init.d script ...


Rgds

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zigbert
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#5 Post by zigbert »

Is this something for Stardust :roll: (Yes, I'm stupid :D ). Will it replace any other tools in Puppy?


Sigmund

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Patriot
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#6 Post by Patriot »

Hmmm .....
zigbert wrote:Is this something for Stardust :roll: (Yes, I'm stupid :D ). Will it replace any other tools in Puppy?
Zigbert, you're being too modest ... I couldn't keep up with your Stardust (now already at 009 !? ... whoooaa, really amazing :shock: ) ...

Anyway, this utility does not seem to have an equivalent counterpart in puppy as far as I know (and .... I don't know very much ...). So, if you feel that many Stardust users would have a need for NFS then you may want to consider this utility ... else, I would suggest waiting until we can get enough momentum from NFS users to help me improve this utility ... I don't expect this utility will have much of a core issue since its really quite easy to mount NFS shares ....

While I would prefer samba shares for easier windows shares integration, I also appreciate how NFS makes network file sharing available in a small package. There are both pros and cons to samba or NFS but that's a topic for another day .....

The purpose of this utility is to first provide an easy to use client access utility and then later, figure out how to make the server setup more user friendly (if I still have the time for it). :D


Rgds

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zigbert
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#7 Post by zigbert »

Thanks for explanation. I learn every day :)

I will include it in the next Stardust. It seems to have some users, and hopefully someone uses NFS, and will give some feedback. I will direct them here.


Sigmund

carl
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#8 Post by carl »

Patriot
Just tried Stardust 10 for the first time. I am running with puppy pfix=ram, tried out the lameSMBxplorer and it quickly found all the shares on my home network. I also have NFS servers and I tried the lameNFSxplorer but unfortunately that did not work. I tried starting from within the rxvt terminal and received the message "Dependency: RPCinfo unavailable". Do I need to start a service for this to work? Any advice welcome.
Carl

carl
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#9 Post by carl »

Patriot,
Just to let you know I have partially resolved my early post of today.
Stardust 10 did not contain the rpc utilities. Once I downloaded nfs_common.tar.gz and untarred in / lameNFSxplorer worked and found both my NFS servers. Do you know how I can check whether Stardust 10 includes your fping-2.4b2_to_pe.tar.gz?
Many thanks
Carl

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Patriot
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#10 Post by Patriot »

Hmmm .....
carl wrote:..... Stardust 10 did not contain the rpc utilities. .....
..... Do you know how I can check whether Stardust 10 includes your fping-2.4b2_to_pe.tar.gz? .....
I've just taken look at Stardust 11 (should be similar with Stardust 10) ... The rpc utilities are installed, but rpcinfo is missing. Zigbert may have accidentally excluded it. The rpcinfo utility is not part of nfs-common but is part of glibc and is available on all official puppy .iso ... I have left zigbert a note so he can include rpcinfo in the next Stardust.

The fping utility is included with lameNFSxplorer package and already available in Stardust. To do a quick check for fping, run fping -v (or fping -h) in a terminal ...


Rgds

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zigbert
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#11 Post by zigbert »

Patriot
Good to see you back on track :)

I checked the Puppy 4.3.1 sfs file, and couldn't find any /usr/sbin/rpcinfo.

???????
Sigmund

carl
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#12 Post by carl »

Patriot,
Many thanks for your reply. When I untarred the nfs_common.tar.gz (downloaded from http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=45090) in / it contained the following so I assume rpcinfo plus others were added.
# tar -zxvf nfs_common.tar.gz
sbin/
sbin/rpc.portmap
usr/
usr/sbin/
usr/sbin/showmount
usr/sbin/rpcinfo
usr/sbin/rpc.statd
usr/sbin/rpc.rquotad
usr/sbin/rpc.nfsd
usr/sbin/rpc.mountd
usr/sbin/rpc.lockd
usr/sbin/pmap_set
usr/sbin/pmap_dump
usr/sbin/nhfsstone
usr/sbin/nhfsrun
usr/sbin/nhfsnums
usr/sbin/nhfsgraph
usr/sbin/nfsstat
usr/sbin/exportfs
var/
var/log/
var/log/nfsd/
var/lib/
var/lib/nfs/
var/lib/nfs/etab
var/lib/nfs/xtab
var/lib/nfs/rmtab
etc/
etc/exports
etc/rpc
etc/rc.d/
etc/rc.d/rc.nfsd
etc/rc.d/rc.portmap
etc/rc.d/rc.local.sample
etc/hosts.allow.sample
# lameNFSxplorer

I started portmap with /etc/rc.d/rc.portmap start, selected option to Scan All Networks and lameNFSxplorer found my NFS server. It took about 70 seconds to find the server compared to just 2 seconds for lameSMBxplorer to find my SMB servers. I don't known whether this will be of interest but I have attached below the terminal output. I have added in the description of what is attached to each ip address. More than happy to test any further tweaks you make.
Carl

# /etc/rc.d/rc.portmap start
Starting RPC portmapper: /sbin/rpc.portmap
# lameNFSxplorer
# rpcinfo -p localhost
program vers proto port
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper
# lameNFSxplorer
Scanning for 1 subnet(s).
Scanning for 192.168.0.1/24 network
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.1 100003 ## my router
rpcinfo: RPC: Port mapper failure - RPC: Unable to receive
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.2 100003 ## my wireless hub
rpcinfo: RPC: Port mapper failure - RPC: Unable to receive
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.4 100003 ##unknown
rpcinfo: RPC: Program not registered
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.5 100003 ## desktop pc
rpcinfo: RPC: Port mapper failure - RPC: Timed out
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.7 100003 ## printer
rpcinfo: RPC: Port mapper failure - RPC: Unable to receive
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.16 100003 ##NFS server
Querying: showmount -e --no-headers 192.168.0.16
/home/carl/copymusic|<anon

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Patriot
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#13 Post by Patriot »

Hmmm .....

carl,

The nfs_common.tar.gz is provided courtesy of mikeb and he was directly involved with lameNFSxplorer (internal) alpha testing earlier ... anyway, the rpcinfo included in nfs_common.tar.gz will also work fine ... just that I find it a wee bit odd that rpcinfo seems to be missing in any puppy (checked out ok in puppy 412/421/430 ... not sure about 431) ...

... but yeah, your 70secs scan time is definitely a whole lot slower than my test results ...

Well, mikeb have just notified me of another scanning utility that we could use for NFS shares scanning. It looks very convincing as it seems to cut down scanning by a big margin. I'll be making a few more tests before working on integrating the "new" scanner into lameNFSxplorer ...

Kindly drop by again anytime next week to give the next release a test run ...


Rgds

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Patriot
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released: lameNFSxplorer v0.0.7a

#14 Post by Patriot »

Hmmm .....

Real life schedules was holding me back from releasing an update earlier ... Anyway, this latest lameNFSxplorer update will now use mpscan for NFS server scanning. This should speed up single network scanning to about 3 seconds average ... though an additional 1-2 secs may be needed for each active NFS server found ...

I also have checked all puppy 4 series for rpcinfo ... It seems that it is available in all standard puppy 4 releases except 4.31 ... If you're missing rpcinfo on puppy 4.31 then please get the rpcinfo archive above (or from any puppy 4 series) and extract into /usr/sbin ... (note: standard rpcinfo binary is part of glibc)


Rgds

carl
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#15 Post by carl »

Patriot,

I have tried your new version on Stardust 11. On my system with two NFS servers scan time reduced from 70 to 30 seconds. Rxvt output as follows:
# lameNFSxplorer
Scanning for 1 subnet(s).
Scanning 192.168.0.0/24 network
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.4 100003
rpcinfo: RPC: Program not registered
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.16 100003
Querying: showmount -e --no-headers 192.168.0.16
/home/carl/copymusic|<anon
Querying: rpcinfo -u 192.168.0.6 100003
Querying: showmount -e --no-headers 192.168.0.6
/disks/fedora/home/carl/music|<anon
/home/carl/MyDocumentsX2|<anon

However, not sure whether I have set up correctly. I tried using your rpcinfo file, extracting to /usr/sbin with Stardust 11 version of lameNFxplorer. Tried to start portmapper with /etc/rc.d/rc.portmap start but no effect. Did not find portmapper in /etc/rc.d. Installed your nfs-rpc-utils-1.2.1-i486.pet but still could not start portmapper. (forgot to check for portmapper in /etc/rc.d). Deinstalled. I then untarred the nfs_common.tar.gz (downloaded from http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=45090) in / and portmapper started OK. Scan time with old version 70 seconds as before. Then I installed your new version BUT without deinstalling previous version. Scan time 30 seconds.

I don't know whether this is relevant but one of my NFS servers is wired & the other wireless & I was testing with Stardust running on my wireless laptop. However, your lameSMBxplorer found the samba shares within a couple of seconds. Rxvt output as follows:

# lameSMBxplorer
ScanNBT: 192.168.0.4|<unknown>||<unknown>|
192.168.0.5|<unknown>||<unknown>|
192.168.0.6|POLAR |<server>|POLAR |00-00-00-00-00-00
192.168.0.7|HPC77723 |<server>|<unknown>|00-1b-78-c7-77-23
192.168.0.16|XANWLFZZK41 |<server>|XANWLFZZK41 |00-00-00-00-00-00
192.168.0.13|CARLS-XP-CINEMA|<server>|<unknown>|00-04-e2-d0-26-3b
Counted 4 server(s) in NBT list.
Query: smbclient -R "bcast wins" -g -N -W "" -U "%***" -L "192.168.0.6"
MyDocuments|
Query: smbclient -R "bcast wins" -g -N -W "" -U "%***" -L "//HPC77723"

Query: smbclient -R "bcast wins" -g -N -W "" -U "%***" -L "192.168.0.16"
copymusic|
Query: smbclient -R "bcast wins" -g -N -W "" -U "%***" -L "//CARLS-XP-CINEMA"
Cinemashare|
#

Welcome any guidance & comments on how I set up lameNFSxplorer.

Carl

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8-bit
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#16 Post by 8-bit »

I have not tried lameNFSxplorer.
Now that I got that off my chest, I want to say that lameExplorer finds shares on my networked PC's that run windows XP.
But...
Although XP can find shares on my Vista PC, lameExplorer cannot.
And another but...
My Vista PC is running Windows OneCare and from the docs on it, it restricts PCs that are not in your group from accessing shares.
So I do not know if OneCare is getting in the way or not.
Also, the Vista PC shares it's printers with the other networked PCs.
But it is not truly set up to be just a server.
As a matter of fact, most of the time, I am running from Puppy on it and have the printers set to be available to the other PCs from both Vista and Puppy.
What I really would like to see is to be able to have a very simple method of sharing a Puppy directory with the windows PCs so they would be visible in Network Neighborhood on the Windows PCs.

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Patriot
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#17 Post by Patriot »

Hmmm .....

carl,

Thanks for your feedback ... I plan to make further tests using the latest Stardust 12 this weekend and hopefully will be able to suggest a better integration to zigbert soon ...

Anyway, if you're using the nfs-rpc-utils posted on the first page then the (nfs server) initialization scripts have been re-written and combined into a single integrated script (portmapper + nfsd components). The script will be /etc/init.d/rc.nfsd and will be automatically started on boot-up if there's a valid share exports. Obviously, the script is only useful for NFS server sharing purposes and is not required for client NFS access.

All my NFS servers are wired and my wifi client scanning averages 5-8 seconds with the latest lameNFSxplorer ... I'll try to duplicate your wifi/wired NFS access to see if there's any reason why your scan time takes too long.


Rgds

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Patriot
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#18 Post by Patriot »

Hmmm .....

I'm sorry but I have absolutely zero Vista OS .... so, I guess I'm shooting blind with Vista ... I probably will get a copy of win7 but not Vista ... so, if anyone knows how to fix these issues with Vista, please advise ... (and do so on the lameSMBxplorer thread, please).

For smb sharing, I should say that it is work-in-progress but to be frank, it's stalled right now due to lack of spare time. I should be able to resume in a weeks time (plus/minus). The samba components are ready but the user interface is not even half-way yet ...


Rgds

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