NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Configuring and Administering NFS Services
Configuring and Administering NFS Clients
Chapter 276
If a directory is configured to
be standard-mounted when the
client system boots, and the
NFS server for the directory is
not booted yet, system startup
is delayed until the NFS server
becomes available. If the client
and the server are configured
to mount directories from each
other at boot time, standard
mounts can cause both systems
to hang indefinitely.
A directory automounted with
AutoFS is not mounted until a user
or a process requests access to it. As
a result, both the client and the NFS
server are able to complete the boot
process before attempting to mount
the directory.
You must maintain the
configuration file for standard
mounts (/etc/fstab)
separately on each NFS client.
You can manage AutoFS
configuration files (maps) centrally
through NIS and LDAP.
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 use wildcard
characters and environment
variables in configuration files
(maps) as shortcuts, when you are
configuring many similar
automounts.
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.
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 the client system
whenever anyone requests access to
a directory on that server. The
servers can change which directories
they export, but your configuration
remains valid.
Table 2-7 Standard-Mounted Versus Automounted Directories (Continued)
Standard-Mounted
Directory
Automounted Directory (Using
AutoFS)