To help explain the autofs mount process, assume that the following files are installed.
$ cat /etc/auto_master # Master map for automounter # +auto_master /net -hosts -nosuid,nobrowse /home auto_home -nobrowse /xfn -xfn /share auto_share $ cat /etc/auto_share # share directory map for automounter # ws gumbo:/export/share/ws |
When the /share directory is accessed, the autofs service creates a trigger node for /share/ws, which can be seen in /etc/mnttab as an entry that resembles the following entry:
-hosts /share/ws autofs nosuid,nobrowse,ignore,nest,dev=### |
When the /share/ws directory is accessed, the autofs service completes the process with these steps:
Pings the server's mount service to see if it's alive.
Mounts the requested file system under /share. Now /etc/mnttab file contains the following entries:
-hosts /share/ws autofs nosuid,nobrowse,ignore,nest,dev=### gumbo:/export/share/ws /share/ws nfs nosuid,dev=#### ##### |