Problem with autofs on linux.

[Tom Buskey]

On 10/2/06, Steven W. Orr <steveo at syslang.net> wrote:
>
>
> One thing I did see in the man pages was the idea of a direct map where
> the first entry in the auto.master is /-, a la
>
> /-      /etc/auto.direct
>
> Then in auto.direct you say
>
> /usr/local/viasat       bos-srv-lnx:/usr/local/viasat
>
> Great idea but it doesn't work. The automounter initializes itself but if
> you try to access /usr/local/viasat there's nothing there. :-(


That's because direct maps are not supported on Linux.  Or HP-UX.  They are
on SunOS and Solaris.

I've unraveled a few direct map setups.  I had to create a link farm because
users were used to the direct links :-(

In SunOS (not Solaris!) you must reboot to take advantage of direct maps in
NIS which defeats the purpose of NIS for automount maps.  Yes, it was awhile
ago.

Finally direct maps are slightly slower then links to indirect maps.

One advantage of direct maps is that users that tend to cd into a directory
at a time can see all the subdirectories.  (cd /home; cd user instead of cd
/home/user).  Solaris 8+ (7+?) can be setup to show all the subdiretories in
a mountpoint (/home shows all /home/users even automount hasn't mounted
them)

I've found that direct maps are better off unused.

Solaris has a neat feature that /net/hostname will show all the exported
directories.  You can use them even if the export isn't in NIS, /etc...
But, like direct mounts, most other Unixen don't have it.
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