sorry folks, i don't know why i didn't tail my syslog on those systems sooner. it would have helped a lot faster.
here is my network setup. server/router/etc (truffula.net) eth0 192.168.2.1 (lan2.truffula.net) eth1 externalip eth2 192.168.1.1 (lan1.truffula.net) on eth0 is a hub. on eth2 is a crossover cable to thneed. thneed is the nfs server in this case (192.168.1.10) on the hub.... swomee (192.168.2.20) grickle (192.168.2.30) lerkim (192.168.2.40) now... i can mount the nfs share fine on truffula.net. since the interface going from it to thneed is 192.168.1.1. but, i can not mount the share from anything on the hub. when i try and mount from a machine on the hub, syslog on thneed reports that it got another mount request from lan1.truffula.net. i belive this has somthing to do with ip masquerading that i'm using. but, i couldn't say for certain. the only solution i can think is to re-export from truffula.net to the machines on the hub. the odd thing about this is, the machines on the hub can ping, nslookup, ssh etc, etc... each other just fine. so, would all machines have to be on the same hub, or is there a way to do this? -- Forrest English http://truffula.net "When we have nothing left to give There will be no reason for us to live But when we have nothing left to lose You will have nothing left to use" -Fugazi