System information

The following is a sample line from /etc/auto .master file (displayed with cat
/etc/auto .master):
/home /etc/auto.misc
The general format of maps is similar to the master map, however the "options" appear between
the mount point and the location instead of at the end of the entry as in the master map:
mount-point [options] location
The variables used in this format are:
mount-point
This refers to the auto fs mount point. This can be a single directory name for an indirect
mount or the full path of the mount point for direct mounts. Each direct and indirect map
entry key (mount-point above) may be followed by a space separated list of offset
directories (sub directory names each beginning with a "/") making them what is known as
a multi-mount entry.
options
Whenever supplied, these are the mount options for the map entries that do not specify their
own options.
location
This refers to the file system location such as a local file system path (preceded with the
Sun map format escape character ":" for map names beginning with "/"), an NFS file system
or other valid file system location.
The following is a sample of contents from a map file (for example, /etc/auto .mi sc):
payroll -fstype=nfs personnel:/exports/payroll
sales -fstype=ext3 :/dev/hda4
The first column in a map file indicates the auto fs mount point (sal es and payro l l from the
server called perso nnel ). The second column indicates the options for the auto fs mount while the
third column indicates the source of the mount. Following the above configuration, the autofs mount
points will be /ho me/payro l l and /ho me/sal es. The -fstype= option is often omitted and is
generally not needed for correct operation.
The automounter will create the directories if they do not exist. If the directories exist before the
automounter was started, the automounter will not remove them when it exits. You can start or restart
the automount daemon by issuing either of the following two commands:
servi ce auto fs start (if the automount daemon has stopped)
servi ce auto fs restart
Using the above configuration, if a process requires access to an auto fs unmounted directory such
as /ho me/payro l l /20 0 6 /Jul y. sxc, the automount daemon automatically mounts the directory.
If a timeout is specified, the directory will automatically be unmounted if the directory is not accessed
for the timeout period.
You can view the status of the automount daemon by issuing the following command:
⁠Chapt er 9 . Net work File Syst em (NFS)
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