Recipe nfs::_common is restarting nfs-client.target service with every chef-client run on RHEL 8 servers

[rajeshboyapati]

On RHEL 8 servers, recipe nfs::_common is restarting nfs-client.target service with every chef-client run.
This issue is reproducible with 3.0.0 version of cookbook as well.

[root@app-server-A ~]$ cat /etc/redhat-release 
Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 8.4 (Ootpa)
[root@app-server-A ~]

[root@app-server-A ~]$ date
Fri Aug 13 09:11:38 UTC 2021
[root@app-server-A ~]$ 

[root@app-server-A ~]$ ls -ltr /etc/sysconfig/nfs*
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 349 Aug 13 09:10 /etc/sysconfig/nfs.rpmsave
[root@app-server-A ~]$
[root@app-server-A ~]$ ls -ltr /etc/nfs*
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3606 Jan 20  2021 /etc/nfsmount.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1188 Aug 13 09:10 /etc/nfs.conf.rpmsave
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1188 Aug 13 09:10 /etc/nfs.conf
[root@app-server-A ~]$

[root@app-server-A ~]$ chef-client -o recipe[nfs::_common]
Starting Chef Client, version 14.15.6
[2021-08-13T08:54:20+00:00] WARN: Run List override has been provided.
[2021-08-13T08:54:20+00:00] WARN: Original Run List: [role[global], role[monitoring]]
[2021-08-13T08:54:20+00:00] WARN: Overridden Run List: [recipe[nfs::_common]]
resolving cookbooks for run list: ["nfs::_common"]
Synchronizing Cookbooks:
  - nfs (2.6.4)
  - line (2.9.3)
Installing Cookbook Gems:
Compiling Cookbooks...
Converging 6 resources
Recipe: nfs::_common
  * dnf_package[nfs-utils] action install (up to date)
  * dnf_package[rpcbind] action install (up to date)
  * directory[/etc/sysconfig] action create (skipped due to only_if)
  * template[/etc/sysconfig/nfs] action create
    - create new file /etc/sysconfig/nfs
    - update content in file /etc/sysconfig/nfs from none to 7b5f09
    --- /etc/sysconfig/nfs	2021-08-13 08:54:25.975261236 +0000
    +++ /etc/sysconfig/.chef-nfs20210813-2380443-176dink	2021-08-13 08:54:25.975261236 +0000
    @@ -1 +1,14 @@
    +# Generated by Chef for app-server-A# Local modifications will be overwritten.
    +# Rendered RHEL template variant
    +STATD_PORT="32765"
    +STATD_OUTGOING_PORT="32766"
    +STATDARG="-p 32765 -o 32766"
    +MOUNTD_PORT="32767"
    +RPCMOUNTDOPTS="-p 32767"
    +LOCKD_UDPPORT="32768"
    +LOCKD_TCPPORT="32768"
    +RQUOTAD_PORT="32769"
    +RQUOTAD="no"
    +RPCNFSDCOUNT="8"
    +
    - change mode from '' to '0644'
    - restore selinux security context
  * service[nfs-client.target] action restart
    - restart service service[nfs-client.target]
  * template[/etc/modprobe.d/lockd.conf] action create (up to date)
  * service[nfs-client.target] action start (up to date)
  * service[nfs-client.target] action enable (up to date)
[2021-08-13T08:54:26+00:00] WARN: Skipping final node save because override_runlist was given

Running handlers:
Running handlers complete
Chef Client finished, 2/8 resources updated in 07 seconds
[root@app-server-A ~]$

[root@app-server-A ~]$ ls -ltr /etc/sysconfig/nfs*
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 349 Aug 13 09:12 /etc/sysconfig/nfs.rpmsave
[root@app-server-A ~]$
[root@app-server-A ~]$ ls -ltr /etc/nfs*
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3606 Jan 20  2021 /etc/nfsmount.conf
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1188 Aug 13 09:12 /etc/nfs.conf.rpmsave
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1188 Aug 13 09:12 /etc/nfs.conf
[root@app-server-A ~]$

Seems like whenever nfs-client.target service restarts /etc/sysconfig/nfs file is getting moved to /etc/sysconfig/nfs.rpmsave.

As per below Red Hat support links /etc/sysconfig/nfs file is deprecated and replaced by /etc/nfs.conf in RHEL 8.
Considerations in adopting RHEL 8
https://access.redhat.com/solutions/3938381

This issue is reproducible on below type of RHEL 8 servers.
1) Physical servers (like HPE Manufacturer)
2) Amazon EC2 instances

This issue is not reproducible on below type of RHEL 8 server (bcoz /etc/sysconfig/nfs persists).
1) VMware servers

$ ls -ltr /etc/sysconfig/nfs*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1679 Jun  8  2020 /etc/sysconfig/nfs.rpmnew
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  347 Apr 22 22:51 /etc/sysconfig/nfs.rpmsave
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  347 Aug 13 09:07 /etc/sysconfig/nfs

[rajeshboyapati]

This issue is not reproducible on VMware servers bcoz nfs-convert.service is disabled.
nfs-convert.service is a systemctl unit that executes /usr/libexec/nfs-utils/nfsconvert.sh, which calls again /usr/sbin/nfsconvert.

/usr/sbin/nfsconvert is a python script that reads the deprecated /etc/sysconfig/nfs file and set the corresponding values in /etc/nfs.conf. At the end it moves /etc/sysconfig/nfs to /etc/sysconfig/nfs.rpmsave