You Cannot Resolve Network File System Client Groups in the Server Appliance Kit WebUI (811303)

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Server Appliance Kit (SAK) WebUI to manage client groups, you can create a client group. For example, you create a group that you name Accounting. When you later add the Accounting group to a network file system (NFS) shared resource, you may receive the following error message:

The client machine name "Accounting" could not be resolved.

CAUSE

The problem has to do with the way that the SAK WebUI enables the user to create new NFS shared resources. The WebUI does not correctly distinguish between group names and machine names in certain situations. Each group or computer that is listed is sent through a validation routine that sends a PING request to the machine name to verify that it is on the network. Because a group name is not a valid machine name, the PING request does not succeed and you receive an error message.

You may experience this problem in the following situations:

If the client group name is not valid according to DNS, you cannot add a group name.
If both the client group and the client in the group have the same names, you can add the group only if the client is online.
If the client group name is valid according to DNS, you can add the client group if the machine that has the same name as the client group is online.

WORKAROUND

If you must use the group name for the purposes of administration, you can manually add the group by means of the NFS Sharing properties. You cannot add groups to an NFS shared resource by using Terminal Services and connecting to the computer that is running the SAK WebUI.

To manually add a group, follow these steps:

Use the Terminal Server Client to connect from a client computer.
Open either My Computer or My Appliance, and then locate the shared folder that you want to change.
Right-click the folder, and then click Properties.
Click the NFS Sharing tab.
If the folder is not shared, share the folder by clicking Share this folder, and then type a name in the Share name box.
To add the group that was configured by means of the SAK WebUI, click Permissions.
Select the group that you want, and then click Add.
Select the Type of Access that you want, and then click OK.
Click OK two more times to close the NFS Share Permissions dialog box and the Properties dialog box.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section of this article. Microsoft is considering an update for the condition with the Service for UNIX sharing permissions in the next service pack.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce the Behavior

To create a new group, follow these steps:

On the Shares menu, click Sharing Protocols.
Select NFS Protocol, and then click Properties.
Under Client Groups, click New.