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

1. If you are using local files for maps, use an editor to edit the master map in the /etc
directory. The master map is commonly called /etc/auto_master. If you are using NIS,
open the master map on the corresponding master server.
If you are using LDAP, the map must be modified on the LDAP server. For information on
modifying the map, see theLDAP-UX Client Services B.04.00 Administrator’s Guide
(J4269-90064).
If the indirect map you modified is not listed in the master map, add the following entry to
the master map:
local_parent_directory indirect_map_name [mount_options]
2. If you are using local files for your AutoFS maps, use an editor to open or create an indirect
map in the /etc directory. Add a line with the following syntax, to the indirect map:
local_subdirectory [mount_options] server:remote_directory
If you are using NIS or LDAP to manage maps, add an entry to an indirect map on the
corresponding NIS master server or the LDAP directory.
3. If you are using NIS to manage maps, rebuild the maps and push them to the slave servers.
For more information on NIS maps, see the NIS Administrator’s Guide (5991-7656).
4. If you modified the master map, enter the following command on each host that uses the
map, to force AutoFS to read the modified master map:
/usr/sbin/automount
IMPORTANT: Ensure that local_parent_directory and local_subdirectory are not
already created. AutoFS creates them when it mounts the remote directory. If these directories
exist, their files and directories in them are hidden when the remote directory is mounted.
Ensure that the local mount-point specified in the AutoFS map entry is different from the exported
directory on the NFS server. If it is the same, and the NFS server also acts as an NFS client and
uses AutoFS with these map entries, the exported directory might attempt to mount over itself.
This can result in unexpected behavior. A directory might also attempt to mount over itself if
you use a single set of AutoFS maps that are distributed using NIS or LDAP, or are in a High
Availability environment.
Notes on Indirect Maps
The mount options that you can specify in the AutoFS maps are the same ones that you use for
the type of filesystem you attempt to automount. For example, if the filesystem type is NFS, then
the mount options you use are identical to the ones used for standard NFS mounted directories.
For a list of mount options, see “Changing the Default Mount Options” (page 44). You cannot
use the bg option for an automounted directory. The mount options configured in the indirect
map override the ones in the master map if there is a conflict.
Indirect maps are usually called /etc/auto_name, where name helps you remember what is
configured in the map. Following is the syntax of the indirect map:
local mount-point mount options remote server:directory
where:
local mount-point Simple name in the indirect map
mount options Options you want to apply to this mount.
remote server:directory Location of the directory, on the server, that is to be
mounted.
If the indirect map name in the AutoFS master map begins with a slash (/), AutoFS assumes that
it is a local file. If it does not contain a slash, AutoFS uses the Name Service Switch to determine
whether it is a file, LDAP, or an NIS map. For more information on configuring the Name Service
Switch, see nsswitch.conf(4).
Configuring AutoFS Direct and Indirect Mounts 69