NAME
automount - configure mount points for autofs
SYNOPSIS
automount [options] mount-point map-type[,format] map [map-options]
DESCRIPTION
The automount program is used to configure a mount point for
autofs, the inlined Linux automounter. automount works by
taking a base mount-point and map file, and using these
(combined with other options) to automatically mount filesystems
within the base mount-point when they are accessed in any way.
The filesystems are then autounmounted after a period of inactivity.
OPTIONS
-p, --pid-file
Write the pid of the daemon to the specified file.
-t, --timeout
Set the minimum timeout, in seconds, until directories are unmounted.
The default is 5 minutes. Setting the timeout to zero disables
unmounts completely.
-v, --verbose
Enables printing of general status and progress messages.
-d, --debug
Enables printing of general status and progress messages as well as
debuging messages.
-g, --ghost
Request that directories in the automount be shown but not mounted
until accesssed. The wildcard map is not ghosted.
-V, --version
Display the version number, then exit.
ARGUMENTS
automount takes at least three arguments. Mandatory arguments
include mount-point, map-type, and map. Both mandatory
and optional arguments are described below.
mount-point
Base location for autofs-mounted filesystems to be attached. This is a
directory name that will be created (as with mkdir -p) and later
when automount terminates will be removed (as with rmdir -p).
map-type
Type of map used for this invocation of
automount. The following are
valid map types:
file
The map is a regular text file.
program
The map is an executable program, which is passed a key on the command
line and returns an entry on stdout if successful.
yp
The map is a NIS (YP) database.
nisplus
The map is a NIS+ database.
hesiod
The map is a hesiod database whose
filsys
entries are used for maps.
ldap
map names are of the form [//servername/]basedn, where the optional
servername is the name of the LDAP server to query, and basedn is
the DN to do a subtree search under. Two LDAP schema are supported. The
automountMap and the nisMap (RFC 2307) object classes.
Entries in the automountMap schema are automount objects in
the specified subtree, where the cn attribute is the key (the wildcard
key is "/"), and the automountInformation attribute contains the
information used by the automounter. Documentation on the schema
used by this module is available online at
http://docs.sun.com/source/806-4251-10/mapping.htm.
RFC 2307 schema entries are nisObject objects and use the cn
attribute as the key and the nisMapEntry contains information used
by the automounter.
format
Format of the map data; currently the only formats
recognized are sun, which is a subset of the Sun automounter map
format, and hesiod, for hesiod filesys entries. If the format is
left unspecified, it defaults to sun for all map types except
hesiod.
map
Location of mapfile to use. This is an absolute UNIX pathname in the case
for maps of types file or program, and the name of a database
in the case for maps of type yp, nisplus, or hesiod.
options
Any remaining command line arguments without leading dashes (-) are
taken as options (
-o) to
mount. Arguments with leading
dashes are considered options for the maps.
The
sun format supports the following options:
-Dvariable=value
Replace variable with value in map substitutions.
-strict
Treat errors when mounting file systems as fatal. This is important when
multiple file systems should be mounted (`multimounts'). If this option
is given, no file system is mounted at all if at least one file system
can't be mounted.
NOTES
If the automount daemon catches signal USR1, it will unmount all
currently unused autofs-mounted filesystems and continue running
(forced expire). If it catches signals TERM or USR2 it will unmount
all unused autofs-mounted filesystems and exit if all filesystems were
unmounted. Busy filesystems will not be unmounted.
The daemon also responds to a HUP signal which triggers an update of
maps for which ghosting is implemented (currently FILE and NIS maps).
If the autofs directory itself is busy when the daemon is signalled
with an exit signal then the daemon will exit without unmounting the
autofs filesystem. The filesystem is left in a catatonic
(non-functional) state, and can be unmounted when it becomes unused.
SEE ALSO
BUGS
A whole slew of missing desirable features (see
TODO file).
The documentation leaves a lot to be desired.
Please report other bugs along with a detailed description to
<autofs@linux.kernel.org>. For instructions on how to join the list
and for archives visit http://linux.kernel.org/mailman/listinfo/autofs
AUTHOR
H. Peter Anvin <hpa@transmeta.com>
