[OpenAFS] File server allegedly unavailable

[Dr A V Le Blanc]

I'm having a peculiar problem, which has affected a single
Linux system.  (Debian potato, upgraded, with 2.4.17 kernel).
I have over 20 identical systems, indentical in the sense that
they have virtually identical hardware, and that the software
has been installed from a single common image, which includes
the kernel and openafs; all that changes is the IP address.

One machine is showing the following symptoms:  when I start
openafs, 'fs checks' reports that 'All servers are running'.
Then I do ls on a directory in AFS.  The response is
'Connection timed out'.  After this, 'fs checks' reports that
'These servers unavailable due to network or server problems:  ice.mcc.ac.uk.'
These 'network or server problems' however are not affecting any
of the other 20 machines, all of which (along with the server)
are on the same segment.

I started this with openafs 1.2.2.  When openafs 1.2.3 came out, I
upgraded the client and kernel module, hoping this would cure the
problem.  No such luck.  I've edited the CellServDB file so that
only my cell is in it.  No change.  I've stopped AFS, deleted all
the cache files, and restarted.  No change.

I would appreciate any ideas about this one.

     -- Owen
     LeBlanc@mcc.ac.uk