Overview of Mounting File Systems

After you create a UFS file system, you need to make it available to the system so that you can use it. You make a UFS file system available by mounting it, which attaches the file system to the system directory tree at the specified mount point. The root (/) file system is always mounted.

The following table provides guidelines on mounting file systems based on how you use them.

Mount Type Needed	Suggested Mount Method
Local or remote file systems that need to be mounted infrequently	The `mount` command that you type manually from the command line.
Local UFS file systems that need to be mounted frequently. Local ZFS file systems are automatically mounted by an SMF service.	The `/etc/vfstab` file, which mounts the file system automatically when the system is booted in multi user state.
Remote UFS file systems, such as home directories, that need to be mounted frequently	The `/etc/vfstab` file, which automatically mounts the file system when the system is booted in multiuser state. autofs, which automatically mounts the file system when you access it or unmounts the file system when you change to another directory.

For more information on mounting removable media, see Chapter 1, Managing Removable Media (Overview).

Commands for Mounting and Unmounting UFS File Systems

The following table lists the commands in the /usr/sbin directory that you use to mount and unmount UFS file systems.

Table 20-1 Commands for Mounting and Unmounting UFS File Systems

Command	Description	Man Page
`mount`	Mounts file systems and remote resources.	`mount`(1M)
`mountall`	Mounts all file systems that are specified in the `/etc/vfstab` file. The `mountall` command runs automatically when the system enters multiuser mode.	`mountall`(1M)
`umount`	Unmounts file systems and remote resources.	`mount`(1M)
`umountall`	Unmounts all file systems that are specified in the `/etc/vfstab` file.	`mountall`(1M)

ZFS file systems are mounted automatically when they are created. You do not need to create an /etc/vfstab entry for ZFS file systems unless you prefer to mount them by using the above legacy mount commands.

For more information about mounting and unmounting ZFS file systems, see the Oracle Solaris ZFS Administration Guide.

For a complete list of mount options for each file system type, refer to the specific mount man page (for example, mount_ufs(1M)). For information about mounting ZFS file systems, see zfs(1M).

Keep the following key points in mind when using the mount and mountall commands:

The mount and mountall commands cannot mount a read/write file system that has known inconsistencies. If you receive an error message from the mount or mountall command, you might need to check the file system. See Chapter 21, Checking UFS File System Consistency (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems for information on how to check the file system.
The umount and umountall commands do not unmount a file system that is busy. A file system is considered busy if one of the following is true:
- A user is accessing a file or directory in the file system.
- A program has a file open in that file system.
- The file system is shared.
You can use the remount option when remounting from read-only access to read-write access only. You cannot remount from read-write access to read-only access.

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	System Administration Guide: Devices and File Systems Oracle Solaris 11 Express 11/10