Enhanced AutoFS Administrator's Guide, September 2005

Configuring and Administering AutoFS
Using the Features
Chapter 3 21
Using the Features
This section includes information on using the features introduced with
Enhanced AutoFS.
On-Demand Mounting
In previous versions, AutoFS mounted an entire set of file systems if they
were hierarchically related. In contrast, Enhanced AutoFS mounts only
those file systems that users access; other file systems that are
hierarchically related to these file systems are mounted when they are
needed.
For example:
# /etc/auto_master file
# local mount point map name mount options
/- /etc/auto_direct
# /etc/auto_direct file
# local mount point mount options remote server:directory
/auto/project/specs -nosuid thyme:/export/project/specs
/auto/project/budget -nosuid basil:/export/FY99/proj1
If you have the preceding AutoFS master and direct maps on the NFS
client, sage, and if a user on this NFS client types the following
command:
cd /auto/project/specs
Only /auto/project/specs subdirectories are mounted using
on-demand mounting.