Third-party port mapper services cause Services for UNIX not to work or to be installed correctly

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This article was previously published under Q313621

SYMPTOMS

Services for UNIX may not work or may not be installed correctly if you install some third-party port mapper services on the same server as Services for UNIX. The conflict may cause a complete loss of functionality in Services for UNIX, or may cause some of the programs that are installed by Services for UNIX not to work correctly.

Some of the symptoms of such a conflict include:

Some or all of the services that are installed by Service for UNIX do not start.
UNIX NIS clients that use Server for NIS as the NIS master cannot contact the NIS master, or cannot run commands to view or change the maps on the NIS master.
If you mount a Server for NFS export, none of the files or folders in the export are shown. If you try to modify a file, you receive a "Stale NFS file handle" error message.
While you are installing Services for UNIX, you receive error messages that state that some services cannot start.
All files written by the Gateway for NFS service have anonymous file permissions on the UNIX side even when User Name Mapping is properly configured.

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CAUSE

The conflict occurs because the Services for UNIX port mapper and the third-party port mapper both try to register with the same port. The Services for UNIX port mapper must be able to register on UDP and TCP port 111. Some third-party port mappers also register on UDP and TCP port 111. The third-party port mapper registers with UDP and TCP port 111. This causes the Services for UNIX port mapper not to start because it cannot register with port 111. If the Services for UNIX port mapper cannot start, some or all of the services that are installed by Services for UNIX may not work because the services depend on the port mapper.

It does not matter whether you install Services for UNIX or the third-party port mapper first. The third-party port mapper takes over after you restart the computer.

The following third-party port mappers are known to cause this conflict:

The NobleNet port mapper service
The Legato NetWorker port mapper

The NobleNet port mapper service is installed as part of the Dell OpenManager Server agent. The NobleNet port mapper service might also be installed by other programs. The NobleNet port mapper program file is named Portserv.exe. This program runs when the NobleNet port mapper service starts.

The Legato NetWorker port mapper is installed as part of Legato NetWorker. The Legato NetWorker port mapper program file is named Nsrexecd.exe. This program runs when the NetWorker Remote Exec service starts.

The Legato NetWorker port mapper binds a socket to port 7938 first. It then tries to bind to port 111. If the bind operation does not succeed, it ignores the error, assumes that another program is already bound to port 111, and continues without serving port 111.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, remove the program that installs the third-party port mapper. After you remove the program, restart your computer.

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Workaround Methods for Legato NetWorker

Note that these resolution methods do not work for NobleNet.

You can use either of the following workarounds to use both Legato NetWorker and Services for UNIX on the same server.

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Method 1

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322756/ ) How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

This method takes advantage of the NetWorker behavior of binding to port 7938 first and then binding to port 111. You can configure Services for UNIX to load before NetWorker. This permits the Services for UNIX port mapper to be able to bind to port 111. You do this by making the NetWorker Remote Exec service (Nsrexecd) dependent on the Services for UNIX port mapper. To do this:

Start Registry Editor. Click Start, click Run, type regedt32, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\nsrexecd
Add a REG_MULTI_SZ value that is named DependOnService, and then add portmap to the list.
Click OK to close the dialog box, and then quit Registry Editor. The next time that you restart the server, Services for UNIX starts before the NetWorker Remote Exec service. The Services for UNIX port mapper can then bind to port 111.

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Method 2

In this method, you prevent NetWorker from trying to bind to port 111. Edit the Nsrla.res file in the Program Files\Nsr\Res folder. Find the following entry:

emulate portmapper: Yes;

Change the entry to:

emulate portmapper: No;

Note that neither of these methods reduces the functionality of NetWorker. For lookups, NetWorker tries port 7938 first, and then fails over to 111.

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WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, disable the service that loads the third-party port mapper, and then restart the server.

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MORE INFORMATION

To determine if a third-party port mapper is causing the Services for UNIX port mapper not to start, check the System event log for an error message with a source of Portmapper, an event ID of 3001, and this description:

The Portmap service did not start as it could not register on port UDP 111. Please ensure that no other program has registered on UDP port 111.

You might also see an error message that refers to TCP port 111. This event log error message is typically followed by a number of Service Control Manager error messages that indicate that many of the Services for UNIX services did not start.

To verify whether the conflict is causing a particular Services for UNIX program not to work, run the rpcinfo -p command. Determine whether that particular program is registered with both a TCP and a UDP port. If "portmapper" is not listed as registered with TCP and UDP port 111, it is likely that a third-party port mapper is installed. Note that there are some cases in which "portmapper" will be listed in the Rpcinfo output as being registered with TCP and UDP port 111, but a third-party port mapper may still have taken those ports. You can tell that this is the case if none of the Services for UNIX programs are shown in the Rpcinfo output.

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Sample Rpcinfo Output

This is an example of the Rpcinfo output for a complete Services for UNIX installation. The ports for some of the programs may vary:

Program     Version  Protocol  Port
-----------------------------------------------
100000      2        udp        111  portmapper
100000      2        tcp        111  portmapper
150001      1        udp       1035  pcnfsd
150001      2        udp       1035  pcnfsd
351455      1        tcp        852  mapsvc
351455      1        udp        857  mapsvc
351455      2        tcp        862  mapsvc
351455      2        udp        867  mapsvc
100004      2        udp        924  ypserv
100009      1        udp        929  yppasswdd
100004      2        tcp        934  ypserv
1073741824  1        udp        939   
100005      1        udp       1048  mountd
100005      2        udp       1048  mountd
100005      3        udp       1048  mountd
100005      1        tcp       1048  mountd
100005      2        tcp       1048  mountd
100005      3        tcp       1048  mountd
100021      1        udp       1047  nlockmgr
100021      2        udp       1047  nlockmgr
100021      3        udp       1047  nlockmgr
100021      4        udp       1047  nlockmgr
100021      1        tcp       1047  nlockmgr
100021      2        tcp       1047  nlockmgr
100021      3        tcp       1047  nlockmgr
100021      4        tcp       1047  nlockmgr
100024      1        udp       1039  status
100024      1        tcp       1039  status
100003      2        udp       2049  nfs
100003      3        udp       2049  nfs
100003      2        tcp       2049  nfs
100003      3        tcp       2049  nfs

This is an example of the Rpcinfo output if the NobleNet port mapper is installed on a computer with Services for UNIX:

Program  Version  Protocol  Port
--------------------------------------------
100000   2        tcp        111  portmapper
100000   2        udp        111  portmapper
300503   1        tcp       1086

This is an example of the Rpcinfo output if the Legato NetWorker port mapper is installed on a computer with Services for UNIX:

program  Version  Protocol  Port
--------------------------------------------
100000   2        tcp       7938  portmapper
100000   2        udp       7938  portmapper
390113   1        tcp       7937
390103   2        tcp       9404
390109   2        tcp       9404
390110   1        tcp       9404
390103   2        udp       9405
390109   2        udp       9405
390110   1        udp       9405
390107   5        tcp       9411
390107   6        tcp       9411
390105   5        tcp       9417
390105   6        tcp       9417

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

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