Autofs Features

Autofs works with file systems specified in the local name space. This information can be maintained in NIS, NIS+, or local files.

The Solaris 2.6 release includes a fully multithreaded version of automountd. This enhancement makes autofs more reliable and allows for concurrent servicing of multiple mounts, which prevents the service from hanging if a server is unavailable.

The new automountd also provides better on-demand mounting. Previous releases would mount an entire set of file systems if they were hierarchically related. Now only the top file system is mounted. Other file systems related to this mountpoint are mounted when needed.

The autofs service now support browsability of indirect maps. This allows a user to see what directories could be mounted, without having to actually mount each one of the file systems. A -nobrowse option has been added to the autofs maps, so that large file systems, such as /net and /home, are not automatically browsable. Also, autofs browsability maybe turned off on each client by using the -n option with automount.