NFS problem FreeBSD vs NetApp Filer using tomcat / java

[Robert Watson]

On Wed, 9 Jul 2003, Oliver Fromme wrote:

> Someone asked me off-list whether I use the "interruptible"  flag for
> the NFS mounts, and suggested switching it off. 
> 
> Well, I always set the interruptible flag, so that processes don't hang
> in case of NFS problems (so I can kill or Ctrl-C them).  Otherwise they
> will hang forever until I reboot. 
>    
> It is my understanding that the interruptible flag has only an effect
> when a signal is delivered to a process which is blocked on NFS I/O.  Or
> am I wrong? 

My recollection is that the linux threading mechanism uses signals between
threads as part of its synchronization primitives, etc.  It could be that
we're seeing a nasty interaction between NFS being unable to distinguish
between "user" signals (Ctrl-C from a tty) and "system" signals from the
thread library interrupting an NFS operation generated by the pager on a
program image file, resulting in a segfault.

So it would be interesting to know if turning off that flag makes the
program run properly.

Robert N M Watson             FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Projects
robert at fledge.watson.org      Network Associates Laboratories