NFS Services Administrator's Guide (B.11.31.02) January 2008

Table 2-7 Standard-Mounted Versus Automounted Directories (continued)
Automounted Directory (Using AutoFS)Standard-Mounted Directory
You can manage AutoFS configuration files (maps) centrally
through NIS and LDAP.
You must maintain the configuration file for standard
mounts (/etc/fstab) separately on each NFS client.
AutoFS allows you to use wildcard characters and environment
variables in configuration files (maps) as shortcuts, when you
are configuring many similar automounts.
If you have to configure many similar standard
mounts, you must configure them individually,
because you cannot use wildcard characters or
environment variables when you configure standard
NFS mounts.
AutoFS allows you to configure a special “built-in” map known
as the -hosts map. This built-in map automounts all the
exported directories from any NFS server on the network on
your system whenever anyone requests access to a directory
on that server. The servers can change which directories they
export, but your configuration remains valid.
Standard NFS mounts provide no shortcut for
configuring all available remote directories. You must
configure each directory separately. If the NFS
servers change the directories they are exporting,
you must change your local NFS client configuration.
Enabling an NFS Client
To enable an NFS client, follow these steps:
1. In the /etc/rc.config.d/nfsconf file, set the value of NFS_CLIENT variable to 1, as
follows:
NFS_CLIENT=1
2. Enter the following command to run the NFS client startup script:
/sbin/init.d/nfs.client start
The NFS client startup script starts the necessary NFS client daemons, and mounts the remote
directories configured in the /etc/fstab file.
Mounting Remote Directories
The mount command mounts a shared NFS directory from a remote system (NFS server).
You can mount a filesystem using the following methods:
• Automatic Mounting at System Boot time
To set up a filesystem for automatic mounting at system boot time, you must configure it
in the /etc/fstab file. All filesystems specified in the /etc/fstab file are mounted
during system reboot.
• Manual Mounting
When you manually mount a filesystem, it is not persistent across reboots or when NFS
client restarts. If the NFS client is restarted or the system is rebooted, the filesystem must
be mounted again after the reboot. To mount filesystems manually, you must run the mount
command. For a list of mount options, see mount_nfs(1M).
Consider the following points before you mount a directory:
• Before you mount a remote directory on your system, you must configure the remote system
as an NFS server and share the directory.
• You must configure a local directory as the mount-point for the NFS filesystem. HP
recommends that the mount-point not contain files and directories. However, if the local
directory contains files and directories, they will be hidden and inaccessible while the remote
directory is mounted.
Mounting a Remote Directory on an NFS client
To mount a directory on an NFS client, select one of the following methods:
40 Configuring and Administering NFS Services