Using NFS on a client

Editing the vfstab file

Automatic mounting is handled through the /etc/vfstab file.

NOTE: A server can be a client of another server on a local network, in which case, the server's vfstab may need to include both local and remote mounts. For information about adding local mounts to the vfstab file, see ``Managing filesystem types''.

Entries in the /etc/vfstab file have the following syntax:

   special  fsckdev  mountp  fstype  fsckpass  automnt  mntopts

where

special: The name of the server sharing the resource the client wants to mount, followed by a colon and the pathname of the resource to be mounted.
fsckdev: The name of a raw device; for a remote mount, the parameter is not applicable and a hyphen (-) should be entered instead.
mountp: The mount point on the client through which the user accesses the resources mounted from the server.
fstype: The type of the mount taking place. An NFS mount is indicated by ``nfs''.
fsckpass: The pass number for multiple fsck; for a remote mount, the parameter is not applicable and a hyphen (-) should be entered instead.
automnt: Indicates whether the entry should be mounted automatically (yes) or not (no) when the client enters system state 3.
mntopts: A list of comma-separated options identical to the options passed to mount.

The contents of /etc/vfstab remain the same until you change them.

For an example of /etc/vfstab in use, refer to ``Example: automatic mounting''.

Example: automatic mounting

To automatically mount the directory /usr/local of the server dancer on the client's directory /usr/local/tmp with read-only permission, add the following line to the client's vfstab.

   dancer:/usr/local  -  /usr/local/tmp nfs - yes ro