NFS fails to start due to missing dependency 'softdog'

Dear community,

after a couple of updates and one reboot of OMV the NFS doesn't start anymore. Trying to enable stops with error message as attached (not included in this post because of error message The message is too long, must be under 10,000 characters.). Please let me know if I need to do something to have it included here directly instead of attachement.

I was able to break it down, in the terminal:

$ sudo systemctl status nfs-server
○ nfs-server.service - NFS server and services
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nfs-server.service; disabled; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /run/systemd/generator/nfs-server.service.d
             └─order-with-mounts.conf
     Active: inactive (dead)

Trying to start:

$ sudo systemctl start nfs-server
A dependency job for nfs-server.service failed. See 'journalctl -xe' for details.

Searching for the problem:

$ journalctl -xe
(...)
raspberrypi systemd-modules-load[325]: Failed to find module 'softdog'
(...)

At this point I am running out of ideas hot wo fix,

My system is Raspberry Pi 5 with latest OMV. I first installed it end of last year acc. the official way, that time v7 was still beta. I tried already various combinations of enabling, rebooting and disabling of nfs in the gui - a solution which I found in the forum for older OMV versions - but w/o success.

Looking forward receiving your help. Please keep in mind my linux knowledge is low, so please write in detail what step I need to take. Thank you.

Zitat von kohje

I had a similar (same?) issue on upgrading from OMV6 => OMV7. Seems to have been fixed by:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure nfs-kernel-server

Thinks it's a Debian change to how the nfs server package is installed on Debian 11 vs. Debian 12.

Just before I read your post, I installed watchdog (and rebooted and checked with systemctl that it is running) - but this didn't solve my problem.
Now tried your solution and this is the output:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure nfs-kernel-server

nfs-blkmap.service is a disabled or a static unit not running, not starting it.
nfs-mountd.service is a disabled or a static unit not running, not starting it.
Could not execute systemctl:  at /usr/bin/deb-systemd-invoke line 145.

Creating config file /etc/exports.distrib with new version
A dependency job for nfs-server.service failed. See 'journalctl -xe' for details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript nfs-kernel-server, action "restart" failed.
○ nfs-server.service - NFS server and services
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/nfs-server.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
    Drop-In: /run/systemd/generator/nfs-server.service.d
             └─order-with-mounts.conf
     Active: inactive (dead)
Failed to restart nfs-kernel-server, ignoring.

Searching the problem shows same as initially:

$ journalctl -xe
(...)
systemd-modules-load[334]: Failed to find module 'softdog'
(...)

Zitat von kohje

Sorry, you have a different root cause to me, and I don't use watchdog, so I had to use Google.

If you've installed watchdog, what output do you get from:

lsmod | grep dog

I can delete watchdog, if helpful / required. It was only my guess because of the softdog.
I entered your code in the terminal but no outcome at all from the terminal. So.... what does that mean? No watchdog available in the kernel?

Zitat von votdev

Looks like. What hardware and distro are you using? is it a SBC?

You can simply disable watchdog via systemctl disable --now watchdog.

I have Raspberry Pi 5.

OK, will disbale watchdog. Then, back to post 1: what to do?

Zitat von votdev

u need to disable watchdog the OMV way, so the softdog module will not be configured. Set the OMV_WATCHDOG_ENABLED env var to false according to the docs. Instead of deploying everything as mentioned in the docs simply run
Bash omv-salt stage run prepare omv-salt deploy run watchdog

Did that but not sure what for. Is my understanding correct that this exercise was to disable watchdog? And if so, wouldn't it be easier to just have it deleted?

The reason for installing watchdog was I thought this will bring the missing dependency. Initially there was no watchdog installed.
Of course I also read the first part of your post where you recommend me to ask in the raspberry forum and I fully understand that if the problem comes from the RPI that OMV cannot fix it. But I'm a bit worried going to the RPI forum might not solve my problem and therefore I'd like first to trying to fix it by trying to get this "smartdog" active.
Here
Watchdog restarting server.

you wrote "This is a useful feature for headless servers. But it is not a service that is really required to run the NAS." Is this still valid for V7 and RPI? If so, I do not really understand the benefit of disabling watchdog.
Please excuse if I misunderstand something, my knowledge is a bit low, but I'm trying to understand what is going on.

Thank you both kohje and votdev. Trying my luck at Raspi OS Forum now: https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=367781