NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Configuring and Administering NFS
Configuring and Administering the NFS Automounter
Chapter 274
The mount options are the same ones used for standard NFS-mounted
directories. See “To Change the Default Mount Options” on page 46 for a
list of mount options. The bg option cannot be used for an automounted
directory. The mount options configured in the indirect map override the
ones in the master map if there is a conflict.
You can configure indirect automounts in the same indirect map only if
their local_parent_directory, as specified in the automounter master
map, is the same. For example, indirect mounts with the local mount
points /nfs/apps/draw and /nfs/apps/word could be configured in the
same indirect map.
Indirect maps are usually called /etc/auto_name, where name is
something that helps you remember what is configured in the map. If
you plan to use NIS to manage your automounter maps, and if your file
system does not support file names longer than 14 characters, keep your
indirect map names to 10 characters or fewer.
If the indirect map name in the automounter master map contains a
slash (/), the automounter assumes it is a local file. If it does not contain
a slash, the automounter uses the Name Service Switch to determine
whether it is a file, an NIS map, or an NIS+ table. See “Configuring the
Name Service Switch” on page 267.
Before you can mount a remote directory on your system, the remote
system where the directory is located must be configured as an NFS
server and must export the directory.
Automounted directories stay mounted until they are left idle for five
minutes. The five minute default can be changed by adding the
-tl duration option to the AUTO_OPTIONS variable in the
/etc/rc.config.d/nfsconf file.
After you configure the directories you want automounted, you must
enable the automounter. See “To Enable the NFS Automounter” on
page 89. If the automounter is already running when you add an indirect
mount to your configuration, you do not have to restart the automounter
unless you change the master map. Any changes you make to an existing
indirect map will take effect the next time the automounter mounts the
directory. However, changes to the master map will not take effect until
you restart the automounter. See “To Restart the Automounter” on
page 92.
Automounted directories in the /etc/mnttab file contain the keyword
ignore to prevent them from being mounted at boot time.