NFS Services Administrator's Guide HP-UX 11i version 3
If the home directory of the user terry is configured in the /etc/passwd file as
/home/basil/terry, AutoFS mounts the remote directory /export/home/basil from the
server, basil, on the local directory /home/basil when Terry logs in.
The line with the asterisk must be the last line in an indirect map. AutoFS reads the lines in the
indirect map sequentially until it finds a match for the requested local subdirectory. If asterisk
(*) matches any subdirectory, AutoFS stops reading at the line with the asterisk.
For example, if the /etc/auto_home map contains the following lines,
* basil:/export/home/&
charlie thyme:/export/home/charlie
AutoFS attempts to mount /export/home/charlie from the host, basil. If the asterisk is a
match for charlie, AutoFS looks no further and never reads the second line. However, if the
/etc/auto_home map contains the following lines,
charlie thyme:/export/home/charlie
* basil:/export/home/&
AutoFS mounts Charlie’s home directory from host thyme and other home directories from host
basil.
Automounting Home Directories
To automount users’ home directories, follow these steps:
1. Ensure that the systems where the users’ home directories are located are set up as NFS
servers and are exporting the home directories. For more information on configuring a
system as an NFS server, see “Configuring and Administering an NFS Server” (page 21).
2. In the /etc/passwd file on the NFS clients, configure the home directory of each user as
the NFS mount-point, where the user’s home directory is mounted. For example, if home
directories are mounted under /home, Claire’s home directory will be configured as
/home/claire in the /etc/passwd file.
3. If you are using local files for maps, create a file called /etc/auto_home on the NFS clients,
and add an entry for each user.
sammy thyme:/export/home/& -nosuid
The ampersand (&) character takes the value of the user name in each line. User Sammy’s
home directory is physically located on host thyme in /export/home/sammy.
4. If you are using local files for maps, add the following entry to the AutoFS master map,
/etc/auto_master, on the NFS clients:
/home /etc/auto_home
5. Enter the following command on each NFS client that uses these maps to force AutoFS to
reread the maps:
/usr/sbin/automount
Example of Automounting a User’s Home Directory
User Howard’s home directory is located on the NFS server, basil, where it is called
/export/home/howard. Each client in the network has the following entry in the /etc/passwd
file on all the systems in the network:
howard:*:700:70:Howard:/home/howard:/usr/bin/ksh
When Howard logs in to any NFS client, AutoFS recognizes /home as an AutoFS mount-point,
because it is configured in the master map, as follows:
/home auto_home
AutoFS reads the auto_home map to find out how to mount Howard’s home directory. It finds
the following line:
howard basil:/export/home/& -nosuid
68 Configuring and Administering AutoFS