Hi Jack

No, this is not normal.
My first suspicion would be network connectivity problems, as NFS is quite sensitive to under/bad- performing networks.

When tried mounting the export from another box, was the other box in the same subnet as your ESX machine?
The other thing to of course check out is if you have configured virtual switches and virtual network architecture on the ESX machine.

Depending on your situation (whether you are on-site and which bit of the network are mission critical and so on) I would first of all try putting a laptop or another box on the same place as the ESX server originally was, give it the same IP address and use a non-virtualised Linux/Un*x and see if you are able to mount the export successfully. This would then allow you to include/exclude ESX and ESX virtual infrastructure on the one hand and actual network infrastructure as the source of the problem.

I would also check the filer messages log from the time you are trying to mount the system, as this may also reveal clues as to what is going on.

Let us know how you get on or if this proves not feasible =(e.g. remote site)... maybe others on this dl also have some suggestions.

Kindest regards

Kenneth

Kenneth Heal
Storage Consultant
Senet Eindhoven bv

> Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:03:37 -0400
> From: jack1729@gmail.com
> To: mvstew@gmail.com
> CC: drenthjd@wxs.nl; kheal@hotmail.com; toasters@mathworks.com
> Subject: Re: NetApp Thin Provisioning and VMware ESX
>
> I am new to using esx on nfs. I have create an nfs export but when I
> try to mount it from the esx box, it is really slow - it takes 2- 3
> minutes to mount?
>
> I assume that isn't normal, but I am not sure where to start looking for
> problems. I assume it is probably doing something and then waits until
> a timeout occurs before proceeding with the mount. I can nfs mount the
> same filer / export on another box no problem (i.e. quickly)

Live Earth is coming. Learn more about the hottest summer event - only on MSN. Check it out!