Configuring the NFS automounter

Starting automount

automount can be started from the command line or (more commonly) from the /etc/nfs script. Before starting automount, make sure that:

there are no equivalent entries in /etc/default/filesys .
all the entries in the maps refer to NFS exported files.

The syntax to invoke automount is:

automount [ options ]

See the automount(NADM) manual page for a complete description of all options.

By default, the NFS startup script /etc/nfs starts automount at boot time through the lines:

   echo "automount\c"    automount -m -f /etc/auto.master

The -m option instructs automount not to look for the NIS master map; the -f option instructs it to use the local file, /etc/auto.master, as the master map. The -m option is useful in cases where you know NIS is not running or there are no NIS maps on the server. To use the NIS auto.master map, start automount without the -m option:

automount

If the map is found, automount follows the directives contained within. If NIS is not running or the map is not found, automount exits silently.

You can also specify mount options that are the same as those for a standard NFS mount, excluding bg (background) and fg (foreground), which do not apply; see the mount(ADM) manual page.

It is possible to specify master map information, that is, mount points, map names, and mount options, on the automount command line itself:

automount /net -hosts /home /etc/auto.home /- /etc/auto.direct -ro

This is equivalent to starting automount with no options and the following /etc/auto.master map:

   /net        -hosts
   /home       /etc/auto.home
   /-          /etc/auto.direct      -ro

Other combinations of automount arguments can change the name of the master map and add, nullify, or override master map entries. Again, see the automount(NADM) manual page for more details.