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automount(8) System Manager's Manual automount(8) NAME automount - Automatically and transparently mounts and unmounts NFS file systems SYNOPSIS /usr/sbin/automount [ -hmnpTv ] [ -D name= value ] [ -f master-file ] [ -M mount-directory ] [ -tl duration ] [ -tm interval ] [ -tw interval ] [ directory mapname [ -mount-options ]] FLAGS Includes the host name in mount-point pathnames. The host name is in- serted just after the mount-directory in a mount-point pathname. This insures that NFS mount points to different servers are placed in sepa- rate directories. This avoids a limitation of getwd(3). Ignores di- rectory-mapname pairs listed in the auto.master NIS database. Disables dynamic mounts. Lookups intercepted by the automount daemon succeed only when the target file system has been previously mounted. Uses lo- cal mounts for primary Internet addresses and NFS loopback mounts for Internet alias addresses. Without this option, the command's default behavior is to bypass NFS for all local Internet addresses, including Internet alias addresses. Traces all NFS requests received by the dae- mon. Information about the details of the request are expanded and sent to standard output. Logs status messages to the console. (Stands for ``verbose.'') Defines an automount environment variable by assign- ing value to the variable. Uses master-file for a list of initial di- rectory to mapname pairs, ahead of the auto.master NIS map. If an en- try exists in both master-file and auto.master, the one specified in master-file is used since it is read first. Similarly, entries on the command line take precedence over master-file entries. This technique can be used to replace entries in global maps with your own. Uses mount-directory instead of the default, /tmp_mnt. Specifies a duration (in seconds) that a file system is to remain mounted when not in use. The default is 5 minutes. Specifies an interval (in seconds) between attempts to mount a file system. The default is 30 seconds. Specifies an interval (in seconds) between attempts to unmount file systems that have exceeded their cached times. The default is 1 minute. Specifies the mount options to be applied to all of the directories listed in mapname. If mount options are listed in the specified map, they take precedence over these options. Sending the SIGTERM signal to the automount daemon causes it to unmount all file systems that it has mounted, and to exit. Sending the SIGHUP signal to the automount daemon causes it to reread the system mount table to update its internal record of currently mounted file systems. If a file system mounted with automount is un- mounted by a umount command, automount should be forced to reread the system mount table. DESCRIPTION The automount daemon automatically and transparently mounts and un- mounts NFS file systems on an as-needed basis. It provides an alterna- tive to using /etc/fstab for NFS mounting file systems on client ma- chines. The automount daemon can be started from the /etc/rc.config file or from the command line. Once started, it sleeps until a user attempts to access a directory that is associated with an automount map, or any di- rectory or file in the directory structure. The daemon awakes and con- sults the appropriate map and mounts the NFS file system. By default, the daemon mounts the remote file system under the directory /tmp_mnt and creates a symbolic link to the temporary mount point. If the indi- cated directory has not already been created, the daemon creates it and removes it after automatic unmount. After a specified period of inac- tivity on a file system, 5 minutes by default, the automount daemon un- mounts that file system. The maps indicate where to find the file system to be mounted and the mount options to use. The names of the maps are passed to automount from the command line or from a master map. If the command line and the master map contain contradictory arguments, the command line argu- ments take precedence. The automount program reads the master map only at startup. If you make any changes to the master map, you must restart automount. An individual automount map is either local or served by NIS. A sys- tem, however, can use both local and NIS automount maps. When a map is referenced, the automount daemon checks whether a full pathname is specified. If it is, automount looks for the designated mapname lo- cally. If the mapname is not a full pathname, automount looks for an NIS map by that name. Maps Conventionally, automount maps are files that are located in the /etc directory with names that have the prefix auto. They indicate which remote file systems to mount, where to mount them, and which options to use. The Master Map The automount program can consult a master map, which contains entries that point to other maps that can be either direct or indirect. If NIS is running, automount checks for the presence of an NIS map named auto.master; you are not required to run NIS or have an auto.master map. A master map can also be a file whose location is specified with the -f command line option. The master map provides automount with a list of maps, and with argu- ments that pertain to each of the maps. Each line in the master map has the following syntax: mount-point map ount-options] Specifies the full pathname of a local directory if the map argument is the name of an indirect map or the name of a special map. If the map argument is the name of a direct map, the dummy directory ``/-'' is specified as the mount-point. Names the map that the automount command uses to find the mount points and locations. This can either be a file name, an NIS map name, or a special map name. Lists the options used to regulate the mounting of entries listed in map. Direct Maps Direct maps specify which remote file systems to mount locally and what the local mount points are. They also can specify mount options. Di- rect maps have the following syntax: key ount-options] location Specifies the full pathname of the mount point. Lists the options for this specific mount. When present, these options override any mount op- tions specified on the command line or in the master map. Specifies the location of the resource being mounted and uses the format server:pathname. Multiple location fields can be specified, in which case automount sends multiple mount requests and mounts from the first server to respond. Indirect Maps Indirect maps have the same format as direct maps. However, unlike the key in a direct map, the key in an indirect map is a simple name that does not begin with a slash. (Remember that the indirect map as a whole has been associated with a directory specified in the master map or on the command line. The entries in an indirect map list subdirectories that are individually mounted within the directory associated with the map.) Special Maps The -hosts map is a special automount map that is used to access all directories exported by a server to a client. The following command allows a client to access directories that are exported from any host in its /etc/hosts file, the NIS hosts database: # automount /net -hosts For example, suppose that hera and sheba are both hosts on a local area network that is running NIS. If superuser on hera enters the automount /net -hosts command, users on hera can access any directories that sheba exports to hera. All of the exported directories are mounted un- der /net/sheba on hera. The -null map, when indicated on the command line, cancels the map as- sociated with the directory indicated. It can be used to cancel a map specified in the master map. For example, invoking the automount com- mand in the following manner causes the /net entry in auto.master to be ignored: # automount /net -null Pattern Matching The ampersand (&) is expanded into the key field in a map wherever it appears. In the following example, the ampersand (&) expands to oak: #key mount_options location # oak &:/export/& The asterisk (*), when supplied as the key field, is recognized as the catch-all entry. It is used to substitute for lines that are all for- matted similarly. Any entry following the asterisk is ignored. In the following example, the automount program uses the asterisk to match any host name other than oak: #key mount_options location # oak &:/export/& * &:/home/& Environment Variables The value of an environment variable can be used within an automount map by prefixing a dollar sign ($) to its name. You can also use braces to delimit the name of the variable from appended letters or digits. The environment variables can be inherited from the environ- ment or can be explicitly defined with the -D command line option. Multiple Mounts A multiple mount entry causes several NFS mount points to be mounted and unmounted together. Multiple mounts have the following syntax: key mountpoint ount-options] location...\ ountpoint ount-op- tions] location...] ... Specifies the full pathname or simple name of the mount point, depend- ing on whether it is a direct or indirect map entry. Specifies the full pathname of a local directory. All mount points must begin with a slash (/). A slash is acceptable as the first mountpoint. Lists the options for this specific mount. When present, these options override any mount options specified on the command line or in the master map. Specifies the location of the resource being mounted and uses the for- mat server:pathname. Multiple location fields can be specified, in which case automount sends multiple mount requests and mounts from the first server to respond. If multiple mounts are hierarchically related, the order in which they appear in the entry is the order in which they are mounted. In the following example, the directories /usr/local, /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/src, and /usr/local/tools are mounted from the machines host1, host2, host3, and host4, respectively. When the root of the hi- erarchy is referenced, the automount program mounts the whole hierar- chy. /usr/local \ / -ro host1:/usr/local \ /bin -ro host2:/usr/local/bin \ /src -ro host3:/usr/local/src \ /tools -ro host4:/usr/src/tools Readability has been improved by splitting the entry into five lines and indenting the continuation lines. RESTRICTIONS Shell filename expansion does not apply to objects not currently mounted. Because automount is singlethreaded, any request that is delayed by a slow or nonresponding NFS server will delay all subsequent automount requests until the delayed request has been completed. EXAMPLES The following is a sample auto.master map: # # mount-point mapname mount-options # /net -hosts /home auto.indirect -rw /- auto.direct -ro,intr The following is a typical automount indirect map: # # key mount-options location # john merge:/usr/staff/john mary stripe:/usr/staff/mary fred blur:/usr/staff/fred The following is a typical automount direct map: # # key mount-options location # /usr/source -ro merge:/usr/src/proto /usr/local blur:/usr/bin/tools The following is a sample indirect map that specifies multiple mount locations for the file system reference. The file system is mounted from the first server to respond to the mount request. reference -ro earl:/usr/src/ref\ fern:/usr/staff/ron/ref\ irv:/usr/backup/reference FILES Directory where automounted file systems reside. RELATED INFORMATION Commands: mount(8) Network Administration delim off automount(8)