We are trying to mount NFSv4 shares on RHEL 8 clients, with kerberos. We have a very similar setup on another environment, and it worked fine. But on this setup, it happens that we get access denied around 50% of the times we try to mount a share:
# failed attempt
bash-4.4$ sudo mount -t nfs -o sec=krb5 server.com:/homes/francis test -vvvv
mount.nfs: timeout set for Sat Apr 2 16:28:32 2022
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,vers=4.2,addr=192.168.1.89,clientaddr=192.168.2.29'
mount.nfs: mount(2): Protocol not supported
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,vers=4,minorversion=1,addr=192.168.1.89,clientaddr=192.168.2.29'
mount.nfs: mount(2): Protocol not supported
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,vers=4,addr=192.168.1.89,clientaddr=192.168.2.29'
mount.nfs: mount(2): Permission denied
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,vers=4,addr=192.168.1.88,clientaddr=192.168.2.29'
mount.nfs: mount(2): Permission denied
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,addr=192.168.1.89'
mount.nfs: prog 100003, trying vers=3, prot=6
mount.nfs: trying 192.168.1.89 prog 100003 vers 3 prot TCP port 2049
mount.nfs: prog 100005, trying vers=3, prot=17
mount.nfs: trying 192.168.1.89 prog 100005 vers 3 prot UDP port 32767
mount.nfs: mount(2): Permission denied
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,addr=192.168.1.88'
mount.nfs: prog 100003, trying vers=3, prot=6
mount.nfs: trying 192.168.1.88 prog 100003 vers 3 prot TCP port 2049
mount.nfs: prog 100005, trying vers=3, prot=17
mount.nfs: trying 192.168.1.88 prog 100005 vers 3 prot UDP port 32767
mount.nfs: mount(2): Permission denied
mount.nfs: access denied by server while mounting hypatia.uio.no:/uioit-usit-drift-homes/francis
# working attempt two seconds later
bash-4.4$ sudo mount -t nfs -o sec=krb5 server.com:/homes/francis test -vvvv
mount.nfs: timeout set for Sat Apr 2 16:30:09 2022
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,vers=4.2,addr=192.168.1.88,clientaddr=192.168.2.29'
mount.nfs: mount(2): Protocol not supported
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,vers=4,minorversion=1,addr=192.168.1.88,clientaddr=192.168.2.29'
mount.nfs: mount(2): Protocol not supported
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,vers=4,addr=192.168.1.88,clientaddr=192.168.2.29'
mount.nfs: mount(2): Permission denied
mount.nfs: trying text-based options 'sec=krb5,vers=4,addr=192.168.1.89,clientaddr=192.168.2.29'
I have checked the logs on the client side, and not much there that points to the cause of the failure to mount. It works one time, and it won't work two seconds later. Or vice-versa.
I thought at first it could be a cross-mount issue, but I also tried with the upper directory of the share, and it was the same problem.
Any hints on what can be the problem?
The problem, in my case, was that there were two PTR configured for the server. Even using
rdns=falsedidn't help. When removing the PTR that didn't resolve back to the hostname that match the principal for the server, things worked much better.Thanks @Tomek for the tip.