DartFS is available via two different protocols: NFS and SMB. Linux can mount DartFS volumes with either but for Linux workstations we recommend using SMB because it is less complicated. Older Linux systems supported only the SMB1 protocol, which is not supported by DartFS for security reasons. This includes RHEL6/Centos6/Ubuntu14 and earlier.
This FAQ only addresses SMB mounts. Please contact Research Computing directly if you need NFS.
To mount a DartFS volume from SMB you really only need a single command. Warning: you need to run this from a root shell or have sudo privileges for the mount command. Also replace the username, localme, path, and mount point as appropriate.
# mount -t cifs -o username=f123456,domain=KIEWIT.DARTMOUTH.EDU \
-o vers=3.0,file_mode=0660,dir_mode=0770,uid=localme \
//dartfs-hpc.dartmouth.edu/rc/lab/I/ImaginaryLab /mnt
Then you will be prompted for your password
Password for f123456@//dartfs-hpc.dartmouth.edu/rc/lab/I/ImaginaryLab: **********
The example mounts “//dartfs-hpc/rc/lab/I/ImaginaryLab” on the mount point “/mnt” using the NetID credential for “f123456”. “localme” is your username locally on the Linux system. Replace those elements of the command with appropriate values for your situation. The backslashes ‘\’ in this command are for line continuation because the command is too long to fit on one line. You can omit them and put it all on one line.
If it works, you should be able to change to the /mnt directory and see all your files.
Linux can also use a keytab file (encrypted password) to mount DartFS non-interactively. This is useful for system services and cron jobs. See associated article for details.
Troubleshooting error messages:
- “mount: only root can do that” means that you forgot to become root (or use sudo) before running the command.
- “mount: unknown filesystem type ‘cifs’” usually means that you do not have SMB support installed on your Linux system.
- “Couldn’t chdir to /mnt: No such file or directory” means that you forgot to create the mount point. /mnt exists by default on most Linux systems but if you choose a different location you will need to create it first.
- “mount error: could not resolve address for …” means you have a typo in the server name piece of the DartFS location
- “mount error(2): No such file or directory” (after being prompted for your password) usually means that you have a typo in the path piece of the DartFS location.
If all else fails, you can try checking that the “rc” shares are visible to your machine. This should work for both dartfs and dartfs-hpc.
# smbclient -U f123456@KIEWIT.DARTMOUTH.EDU -L dartfs-hpc
Enter f123456@KIEWIT.DARTMOUTH.EDU’s password:
OS=[Unix] Server=[Isilon OneFS]
Sharename Type Comment
——— —- ——-
rc Disk HPC homes and 1TB Labs
[ignore the errors that appear here]
For more information, please contact Research Computing.