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automount(8)							  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] [direc‐
       tory map [-mount-options]]

OPTIONS
       Includes the host name in mount-point  pathnames.   The	host  name  is
       inserted	 just  after  the  mount-directory  in a mount-point pathname.
       This ensures that NFS mount points to different servers are  placed  in
       separate	 directories.	This avoids a limitation of getwd(3).  Ignores
       directory-mapname pairs listed in the auto.master NIS  database.	  Dis‐
       ables dynamic mounts.  Lookups intercepted by the automount daemon suc‐
       ceed only when the target file  system  has  been  previously  mounted.
       Uses  local  mounts  for	 primary  Internet  addresses and NFS loopback
       mounts for Internet alias addresses.  Without  this  option,  the  com‐
       mand's  default	behavior  is  to  bypass  NFS  for  all local Internet
       addresses, including Internet alias addresses.  Traces all NFS requests
       received	 by  the daemon.  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 assigning value to the variable.  Uses  master-file	for  a
       list  of	 initial  directory to mapname pairs, ahead of the auto.master
       NIS map.	 If an entry exists in both master-file and  auto.master,  the
       one  specified  in  master-file	is used since it is read first.	 Simi‐
       larly, 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 inter‐
       val  (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 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	direc‐
       tory  “/-”  is  specified as the directory.  Names a map that the auto‐
       mount 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.	Speci‐
       fies the mount options to be applied to all of the  directories	listed
       in  map.	 If  mount  options are listed in the specified map, they take
       precedence over these options.

DESCRIPTION
       The  automount  daemon  automatically  and  transparently  mounts   and
       unmounts NFS file systems on an as-needed basis.	 It provides an alter‐
       native to using /etc/fstab for NFS  mounting  file  systems  on	client
       machines.

       Note  that  the automount daemon will be retired in a future release of
       the operating system. For information about migrating from Automount to
       its  replacement,  AutoFS,  see	Network Administration: Services.  For
       more information about AutoFS, see autofsd(8).

       The automount daemon can be started from the /etc/rc.config.common 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 directory or file in the directory structure.  The daemon
       awakes and consults the appropriate map and mounts the NFS file system.
       By  default,  the daemon mounts the remote file system under the direc‐
       tory /tmp_mnt and creates a symbolic link to the temporary mount point.
       If  the	indicated  directory  has not already been created, the daemon
       creates it and removes it after automatic unmount.  After  a  specified
       period  of inactivity on a file system, 5 minutes by default, the auto‐
       mount daemon unmounts 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.

					Note

       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 system,
       however, can use both local and NIS automount maps.  When a map is ref‐
       erenced,	 the automount daemon checks whether a full pathname is speci‐
       fied.  If it is, automount looks for the	 designated  mapname  locally.
       If  the	mapname is not a full pathname, automount looks for an NIS map
       by that name.

       By default, automount uses UDP.	If the tcp option is  specified	 in  a
       map,  automount	will try TCP.  If TCP is not available, automount will
       then use UDP.

   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: directory map [mount-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 spec‐
       ified  as the directory.	 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. Direct
       maps have the following syntax: key [mount-options] location

       Specifies the full pathname of the mount point.	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 format
       server:pathname. Multiple location fields can be specified; see	Repli‐
       cated File Systems for more information.

   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
       under /net/sheba on hera.

       The -null map, when indicated on the  command  line,  cancels  the  map
       associated  with	 the  directory indicated.  It can be used to cancel a
       map specified in the master map.	 For example, invoking	the  automount
       command 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 environment
       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 [mount-options] location...\

       [mountpoint [mount-options] 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;  see
       Replicated File Systems for more information.

       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
       hierarchy 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.

   Shared Mounts
       A  shared  mount	 prevents  duplicate mounts of a remote file system by
       creating symbolic links for subdirectories that the  file  system  con‐
       tains.  When you mount multiple directories from within a common remote
       directory,  you	can   specify	the   location	 field	 as   follows:
       host:path:subdir

       Specifies  the remote host from which to mount the file system.	Speci‐
       fies a pathname for the common directory that contains the  directories
       you  want  to mount.  Specifies the name of a subdirectory to which you
       want to make a symbolic link.

       Suppose an indirect map called /auto.myindirect is specified in a  mas‐
       ter file as follows:

       /mydir	       /auto.myindirect

       And the /auto.myindirect map consists of the following entries:

       mybin			  host1:/usr/staff/diane:bin	       mystuff
       host1:/usr/staff/diane:stuff

       When a user accesses a  file  in	 /mydir/mybin,	the  automount	daemon
       mounts  host1:/usr/staff/diane,	but  creates  a	 symbolic  link called
       /mydir/mybin to the bin subdirectory in the  temporarily	 mounted  file
       system. If a user immediately tries to access a file in /mydir/mystuff,
       the automount daemon needs only to create a symbolic link  that	points
       to  the	stuff  subdirectory  because the /usr/staff/diane directory is
       already mounted.	 With the following map, the daemon would perform  two
       separate mount operations:

       mybin			  host1:/usr/staff/diane/bin	       mystuff
       host1:/usr/staff/diane/stuff

   Replicated File Systems
       You can specify multiple locations for a single mount.  If a file  sys‐
       tem  is	located on several servers and one of the servers is disabled,
       the file system can be mounted from one	of  the	 other	servers.  This
       makes sense only when mounting a read-only file system.

       In  the	following  example,  the  reference  pages can be mounted from
       host1, machine2, or system3:

       /usr/man\
		       -ro,soft	       host1:/usr/man \
				       machine2:/usr/man \
				       system3:/usr/man

       The preceding example can also be expressed as a list of servers, sepa‐
       rated by commas and followed by a colon and the pathname, for example:

       /usr/man	 -ro,soft  host1,machine2,system3:/usr/man

       This syntax is valid only if the pathname is the same on each server.

       When you access the reference pages, the automount daemon issues a ping
       (NFS v2 noop request) to each of the  specified	servers	 concurrently.
       The  server  that  first	 responds  to the ping request is used for the
       mount.

NOTES
       Sending the SIGTERM signal (kill -TERM) to the automount daemon	causes
       it  to unmount all file systems that it has mounted, and to exit.  This
       is the preferred method.	 If you send any other signals that  automount
       cannot  catch  (for  example,  kill  -KILL or kill -INT), any NFS mount
       points that automount was not able to remove before exiting will	 hang.
       The  hang  will	occur  from  any program that attempts to access those
       mount points.  You must reboot the system in order to  remove  the  NFS
       mount points.

       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
       unmounted by a umount command, automount should be forced to reread the
       system mount table.

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.

SEE ALSO
       Commands: autofsd(8), autofsmount(8), mount(8)

       Network Administration: Services

								  automount(8)
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