NFS server exists with FATAL error on service start

This document (7011839) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (any version)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (any version)

Situation

After patching the system NFS services fail to start:

linux:/ # /etc/init.d/nfsserver start
Starting kernel based NFS serverFATAL: Could not load /lib/modules/2.6.16.60-0.85.1-smp/modules.dep: No such file or directory
/etc/init.d/nfsserver: line 118: /proc/fs/nfsd/versions: No such file or directory

WARNING: idmapd is not running - run "chkconfig nfsserver on" failed
linux:/ #

Resolution

Please reboot the server to activate the new kernel.

Cause

The online update installed a new kernel. As NFS services are trying to access the modules of the previous kernel version which was updated, the service fails to start.

Additional Information

To check whether this applies run uname -a and rpm -qa | grep kernel and compare the output. This is an example from a SLES10SP4 update:

linux:~ # uname -a
Linux linux 2.6.16.60-0.85.1-smp #1 SMP Thu Mar 17 11:45:06 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
linux:~ # rpm -qa | grep kernel
kernel-source-2.6.16.60-0.99.1
kernel-smp-2.6.16.60-0.99.1
linux:~ #

Disclaimer

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