NFS Services Administrator's Guide (B.11.31.04) March 2009

Creating a Hierarchy of AutoFS Maps
Hierarchical AutoFS maps provide a framework that enables you to organize large
exported filesystems. Together with NIS, which allows you to share information across
administrative domains, hierarchical maps enable you to decentralize the maintenance
of a shared namespace.
Sample Map Hierarchy
In the following example, an organization consisting of many departments, wants to
organize a shared automounted directory structure. The shared top-level directory is
called /org. The /org directory contains several subdirectories, which are listed in
the auto_org map. Each department administers its own map for its subdirectory.
The AutoFS master map needs only a single entry for /org as in the following example:
# auto_master map
# Directory Map Name
/org auto_org
The auto_org map appears similar to the following:
finance -fstype=autofs auto_finance
marketing -fstype=autofs auto_marketing
legal -fstype=autofs auto_legal
research -fstype=autofs auto_research
eng -fstype=autofs auto_eng
The engineering department map, auto_eng, appears similar to the following:
releases bigiron:/export/releases
tools mickey,minnie:/export/tools
source -fstype=autofs auto_eng_source
projects -fstype=autofs auto_eng_projects
A user in the blackhole project within engineering can use the following path:
/org/eng/projects/blackhole
Starting with the AutoFS mount at /org, the evaluation of this path dynamically creates
additional AutoFS mounts at /org/eng and /org/eng/projects. No action is
required for the changes to take effect on the user's system because the AutoFS mounts
are created only when required. You need to run the automount command only when
you make changes to the master map or to a direct map.
Modifying or Removing an Automounted Directory from a Map
To modify or remove an automounted directory from a map, follow these steps:
1. Enter the following command to determine whether the directory is currently in
use:
/usr/sbin/fuser -cu local_mount_point
98 Configuring and Administering AutoFS