auto mount

[Ismail Azad]

Hi,

Sorry for so many posts...

Let me make it clear. ON MY SERVER vi into /etc/mnttab gives me a blank screen. Writing into it is possible but has no effect the next time I cat it, Shows the previous mount table

Regards
Ismail Azad

[Dennis Handly]

>Ismail: My server is an rp3410 running 11.31
>lrwxr-xr-x 1 root sys /etc/mnttab -> /dev/mnttab

Hmm, I thought I checked 11.31. mnttab(4) doesn't indicate it is now special.

>bottom of the editor I get "Character special file"

So you don't really get a blank screen. :-)

>this is HP-UX's way of not letting people mess with /etc/mnttab as syncer, mount and umount control the contents of this file.

Yes.

[Yarok]

Hello,

First, let me apologize for the delay. I have just arrived to work.

The only way I know to check if the outomount is running fine is to reboot the system (anless ps -fu root | grep auto is what you meant. My automount is running). I cannot do it often, so I am waiting for an opportunity to take the action.

And NO, at this stage I would not try to edit /etc/mnttab :) thank you.
yaron

[Dennis Handly]

>Unless ps -fu root | grep auto is what you meant. My automount is running.

Yes, that will show if it is running.

[nijokj]

ps -fu root | grep auto

this will show you whether aoutomounter/autofs is running on your system.

autofs/automounter is a process which is using for mounting NFS file systems automatically.ie it will mount filesystems when you required it .that means you want to read some data on nfs file system mounted on your system using autofs , at the time you type "cd" to that dirctory and type "ls" the then only it will mount in your system.

another way to mount an NFS file system is hard mount which is put entries in your fstab file .
please refer the man page of autofs for further details of automount.

[Yarok]

Thanks for the information.

Please note that the reasult for the command ps -fu root | grep auto is
/usr/lib/netsvc/fs/autofs/automountd
1. does the "d" has meaning?
2. How can I activate/cancel this process?

BR,

Yaron

[Ismail Azad]

Hi,

Answers to your questions....

> 1. does the "d" has meaning?

"d" there would normally stand for daemon. Should not be mistaken for other terminology, it stands for "disk and execution monitor" if I remember right :)...

> 2. How can I activate/cancel this process?

kill -9
{to kill a process}

If you want to activate something, start the service itself and the services startup script initialization is done under directories /sbin/init.d.... and for v3 you would find one for AutoFS and as such the whole subsystem can be stopped or started.

These are answers to your questions, not sure which route you have taken!

Regards
Ismail Azad

[Yarok]

Thanks,

Just let me know the difference between PID and service.

>kill -9
It use to kill a process ID in order to stop the process or service?


>If you want to activate something, start the service itself and the services startup script initialization is done under directories /sbin/init.d

1. I must first make sure that
etc/rc.config.d/nfsconf NFS_CLIENT = 1 ?

2. Shuld I do the same to activate a server?
etc/rc.config.d/nfsconf NFS_SERVER = 1?

/sbin/init.d/nfs.server stop
/sbin/init.d/nfs.server start

Mr. Dennis claimes that my fstab entry indicates NO NFS mounts at all. So you could have been using the automounter to mount NFS filesystem.
Can you please explain?

Regards,

Yaron

[Dennis Handly]

>1. does the "d" has meaning?

As Ismail mentioned, many demons have process names that end in "d". Some even have man pages: ls /usr/share/man/man1m.Z/*d.1m

>2. How can I activate/cancel this process?

Every process/demon started by rc(1m) has an appropriate script that starts and stops it.

>Just let me know the difference between PID and service.

Except for certain kernel actions, everything needs a process to do it. And a PID is their handle.

>It use to kill a process ID in order to stop the process or service?

You should only use this as the last resort.

>1. I must first make sure that
/etc/rc.config.d/nfsconf NFS_CLIENT=1?

If you want to remote mount NFS filesystems.

This needs: /sbin/init.d/nfs.client start

>2. Should I do the same to activate a server?
/etc/rc.config.d/nfsconf NFS_SERVER=1?
>/sbin/init.d/nfs.server stop
>/sbin/init.d/nfs.server start

If you want to export filesystems to other systems.

>Dennis claims that my fstab entry indicates NO NFS mounts at all. So you could have been using the automounter to mount NFS filesystem.

NFS mounts can be done in several ways.
1) In /etc/fstab so they are mounted on every boot.
2) An explicit mount command by the sysadmin.
3) Automounter mounts when they are used.

You don't have 1), you would likely know about 2), so what's left is 3).
Also check /etc/mnttab for current mounts.

>Ismail: kill -9 {to kill a process}

-KILL should always be the last resort.

>start the service itself and the services startup script initialization is done under directories /sbin/init.d.

This is the right way.

[Ismail Azad]

Hi Yaron,

I think this might be one of the fundamental points to your question. Rechecking the attachment of /etc/fstab. There are no NFS mounts on it. Maybe the NFS entries were missing or maybe AutoFS was configured and that is how your filesystems where expected to be mounted. I have asked this before, please let us know 1) Are you trying to mount an NFS filesystem from an NFS server wihtout making use of AutoFS or 2)Are you trying to mount with the NFS clients side service AutoFS? If you are referring to the second option then, your initial question at the top of the page is normal behaviour.


If you have AutoFS configured, the mount will not reflect on your mount table every time your system boots. AutoFS is used to mount a filesystem depending on "accessing" the filesystem and "unmounts" depending on "idle" time and hence these filesystems which are configured with AutoFS maps will not mount on every reboot but will depending on "access" as mentioned by one of the forumers. Since you are having the automount daemon running and if the filesystem in question is making use of this daemon, then this filesystem is not expected to be mounted at boot time but is expecting to get mounted by waiting for it to be 'accessed'.

Regards
Ismail Azad