The ideal is for all network users to be able to locate their own home directories or the home directories of other users under /home. This view should be common across all systems, whether client or server.
Every Oracle Solaris installation comes with a master map: /etc/auto_master.
# Master map for autofs # +auto_master /net -hosts -nosuid,nobrowse /home auto_home -nobrowse /nfs4 -fedfs -ro,nosuid,nobrowse
A map for auto_home is also installed under /etc. When a new local user is created, an entry is automatically added to /etc/auto_home. For example:
# Home directory map for autofs # rusty dragon:/export/home/& +auto_home
On the server named dragon, the home directory for rusty can be accessed through /export/home/rusty as well as /home/rusty.
With the auto_home map in place, users can refer to any home directory (including their own) with the path /home/user. user is their login name and the key in the map. This common view of all home directories is valuable when logging in to another user's system. Autofs mounts your home directory for you. Similarly, if you run a remote windowing system client on another system, the client program has the same view of the /home directory. This common view also extends to the server.
Users do not need to be aware of the real location of their home directories. If a user needs more disk space and needs to have the home directory relocated to another server, you need only change the user's entry in the auto_home map to reflect the new location. Other users can continue to use the /home/user path.