Simple Autofs Mount

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:

1. Pings the server's mount service to see if it's alive.

2. 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=#### #####