[CentOS] unable to write files bigger than 4GB over NFS

[Joseph Haig]

Tony Schreiner wrote:

> This may not be a CentOS problem, because I'm in a mixed environment.  
> But I put it out in case anybody has any thoughts.
>
> I recently replaced a file server, which was on a Pentium III based  
> system running 32-bit CentOS 4.3, with an Opteron based system  
> running Fedora 4. The NFS clients are all CentOS 4.3, some are 32 bit  
> and some are 64 bit.
>
> Since the replacement, when I try to write a big file from the 32bit  
> CentOS  boxes over NFS to the server, I get "filesize exceed  
> messages" at 2GB. However this used to work with the old server. And  
> I can  write big files if I'm logged on to the server.
>
I belive that the maximum file size for an NFS partition is 2G, so I am 
surprised that you didn't see the problem before replacing the server.  
I got round this problem by using ssh, but this probably isn't going to 
be of use if you need to use the files frequently.

> One more oddity, the  shared file system on the server is xfs  
> formatted; if I instead mount a reiserfs file system I can  
> successfully write. This part does not make sense to me.
>
Maybe the limit doesn't come from just NFS but a combination of NFS and 
the filesystem.