Configuring the NFS automounter

Mixing local and distributed automount maps

Direct and indirect maps can contain pointers to other direct, indirect, and built-in maps. This facility is beneficial when mixing local maps with NIS-managed maps. In such a situation, a local map, listed in the master map, contains a pointer to the NIS-managed maps.

A line of the form +mapname causes automount to consult the mentioned map as if it were included in the current map. If mapname is a relative pathname (not beginning with a slash), automount assumes it is an NIS map. If the pathname is an absolute pathname, automount looks for a local map of that name. For instance, you can have a few entries in your local auto.home map for the most commonly accessed home directories and follow them with the included NIS map:

   tokyo        -ro        &:/home/&
   milan        -ro        &:/export/home
   +auto.home

After consulting the included map, automount continues scanning the current map so you can add more entries:

   tokyo        -ro        &:/home/&
   milan        -ro        &:/export/home
   +auto.home
            -ro           &:/home/&

Finally, the map included can be a local file or even a built-in map. If the map name starts with a dash (-), automount consults the appropriate built-in map (see the ``Using built-in automount maps'' section in this chapter for more details on built-in maps).

   +auto.home.finance                      # NIS map
   +auto.home.sales                        # NIS map
   +auto.home.engineering                  # NIS map
   +/etc/auto.mystuff                      # local map
   +auto.home                              # NIS map
   +-hosts                                 # built-in hosts map
                   &:/export/&           # wild card