# [SOLVED] Does PXE-booting supports NFSv4?

## c0wb0y

Hi,

I tried to setup a diskless Debian client using PXE-boot/NFS root. But I cannot get it to work. 

NFSv4 Server is running properly because I can mount NFS shares on a physical installation.

DHCP and TFTP are running properly as well.

I am stuck with the prompt 'Retrying /script/nfs-mount'

By the way, I rebuild the initramfs image to use 'nfs boot'.

What I would like to know is if I can use NFSv4 on root mount or do I have to stick to version 3? Or this could be a Debian issue?

Thank you!Last edited by c0wb0y on Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:14 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## Hu

PXE booting only describes how to get the kernel and optional initramfs running.  Once that happens, you can run without any NFS access if your initramfs is sufficiently versatile, or you could mount any arbitrary filesystem.  If you were only using the kernel's built-in NFS-root support, you would be more limited, but you already said you are using an initramfs.  So, this is a problem with the configuration of the booted kernel and/or the contents of your initramfs.

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## c0wb0y

Thanks a lot Hu. That makes sense. I haven't fully inspect the default kernel so I am not sure if NFSv4 is included. I would rebuild the kernel and compile NFSv4 support right into the kernel.

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## c0wb0y

Yes it does support NFSv4. However, there is a caveat. It is kinda mixture of v3 and v4. On the pxelinux.cfg/default, I use v3 convention (append init=/sbin/init initrd=/initrd root=/dev/nfs nfsroot=192.168.2.254:/nfs/debian ip=::::::dhcp rw)

But once past the initrd.img stage, I declare the client NFS root as: (192.168.2.254:/debian    /   defaults    0   0), which is the v4 convention. The file /etc/hosts.allow is finicky as well.

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