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

/home /etc/auto_home -nosuid
The following line from the /etc/auto_home indirect map mounts the user's home directories
on demand:
# /etc/auto_home file
# local mount-point mount options remote server:directory
* basil:/export/home/&
The user's home directory is configured in the /etc/passwd file as /home/username. For
example, the home directory of the user terry is /home/terry. When Terry logs in, AutoFS
looks up the /etc/auto_home map and substitutes terry for both the asterisk and the
ampersand. AutoFS then mounts Terry’s home directory from /export/home/terry on the
server, basil, to /home/terry on the local NFS client.
You can use the ampersand character to represent both the remote server and the remote
subdirectory, in the same line of the indirect map. For example, if the user’s home directory is
physically located on many different servers, but the directory under which the home directory
is located is called /export/home/servername on all the servers, the following line in the
/etc/auto_home map mounts all the user's home directories from any server:
* &:/export/home/&
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 23).
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.
72 Configuring and Administering AutoFS