You can use telnet, ping and traceroute to probe server ports. You don't have to rely on the Earthworm software only. For example, if the server that export_generic is trying to reach uses port 16002 at IP address 192.168.0.2, can you telnet 192.168.0.2 16002? If the server is listening, telnet will connect, even though it will not be able to communicate. If that fails, can you ping the server IP address? I.e., ping 192.168.0.2. If that fails, you have network configuration errors. You can use traceroute to watch what the ping probe is doing. I.e., traceroute 192.168.0.2. Assuming you had no need to change port numbers, the fact that export_generic says it cannot connect is a pretty strong indication the network is not quite configured properly on one or more of your systems. Have you examined the firewall rules on your systems? If NFS is involved, make sure the server export rules allow the mounts you need. Use showmount -e <server-IP-address> to show the export rules for the NFS server at <server-IP-address>.