Linux Automount

Introduction to Linux Automount

In the Linux operating system, the automount utility is used to manage the automount points for autofs i.e. the Linux automounter. The Linux automount functionality is to provide them on-demand as well as an auto unmounting file system to the environment. In this utility, there is no need to do the manual mounting. The major advantage of the automount utility is for remote applications or remote users. It will automatically access or get the data from the respective storage. The complete activity of the automount is managed by the “autofs” utility.

The autofs utility was written by the Christoph Lameter (email:- chris@waterf.org). It will further be edited by H. Peter Anvin (email:- hpa@transmeta.com) and Ian Kent (email:- raven@themaw.net).

Syntax of Text Editors

automount [options] [master_map_name]

Major file

/etc/auto.master
/etc/auto.XXXX
systemctl start autofs

Note: As such, there is no major command for autofs utility. We need to majorly focus on the above master and automount file configuration.

• automount: We can use the “automount” keyword in the syntax or command. It will take different arguments like options and master_map_name. As per the provided arguments, it will manage the autofs functionality in the Linux environment.
• /etc/auto.master: This is the master file for autofs utility. As the name suggests, it will manage overall automount functionality on the Linux operating system. In this file, we are adding the root directory information for the automount.
• /etc/auto.XXXX: As per the auto master file configuration, we need to create the supporting auto DB/file for the automount activity. As per the requirement, we can define the file name. But make share that the file name is similar with master config as well as the etc file name.
• systemctl start autofs: Once all the configuration parameters will configure, we need to start the autofs service. As per the requirement, we can restart, stop, or start the autofs service.

How Linux Automount Works?

In the Linux environment, we are having the functionality to mount the different types of file systems in the environment like NFS, ext3, ext4, xfs, etc. But while adding or mounting the file system, we need to run the manual command to mount on the Linux operating system. It is similar to the unmounting process also. But if we would need functionality to mount the file system automatically and no need to add the manually commands in it then we need to use the “autofs” utility. In this utility, the file system will automatically mount when there is an access request. It will automatically unmount when there is no access request pending or configure the timeout window.

The major drawback of the Linux fstab is the number of mounting point information. When we are adding the number of mount point information to it. It will assign the dedicated resources to handle it irrespective of how frequently the users are accessing the mounted file system. If it will not handle properly then there is overhead for the Linux system. Unnecessary the system resources were consumed and the system performance will degrade.

Below is the list of options, we can use with the automount command.

Sr No	Option	Description
1	-h –help	It will print the automation option and exit it
2	– p –pid-file f	It will write the process id
3	-t –timeout n	As the value of “n” It will unmount the file system.
4	-v –verbose	It will print the processing information
5	-d –debug	It will help for the log debugging information
6	-D –define	It will define the global macro variable
7	-O –global-options	It will help to specify the global mount options
8	-l –set-log-priority priority path [path,…]	Help to set up the daemon log verbosity
9	-C –dont-check-daemon	It will not check the daemon if it is already in running state
10	-F –force	It will forcefully clean up the known automount at the start
11	-V –version	It will print the version information and exit it

Examples to Implement Linux Automount

Here are the following examples mentioned below:

Example #1 – List of Automount

In the automount command, we are able to find the list of automount file system in the Linux environment. We need to use the “-m” option with the automount command.

Command :        

automount -m

Explanation :

As per the above command, we are able to find the list of automount file system in the system.

Output :

Example #2 – Install Packages

In Linux, the autofs package is not available. We need to install the autofs packages with the necessary dependency.

Command :

yum install autofs -y

Explanation :

With the help of the above yum command, we are installing the autofs packages in the system.

Output :

Example #3 – Edit Master File

In automount, we need to configure the auto master file. The same file helps to identify the automount information.

Command :

vi /etc/auto.master
“/automount      /etc/auto.autofs        --timeout=40”

Explanation :

We edit to add the information in the master file i.e. /automount, mount directory on the “/” path, “/etc/auto.autofs” mount file, and “–timeout=40”, ideal timeout value.

Output :

Example #4 – Edit Mount File

In Linux, while working with the automount we need to configure the mount file information.

Command :

vim /etc/auto.autofs
datashare       -fstype=nfs             192.168.56.60:/datashare

Explanation :

As per the above command, we are adding the mount information i.e. “datashare” share directory name, “-fstype=nfs” file system type, and “192.168.56.60:/datashare” share location path.

Output :

Example #5 – Start the Autofs Service

Once the complete configure will complete. We need to start the autofs service and check whether the file system is available in the automount environment or not.

Command :

systemctl start autofs

Explanation :

We are starting the autofs service and printing the list of automount file system.

Output :

Example #6 – Check the Share Data

In the Linux Automount, once the file systems will automount then we are able to check the data in the shared location.

Command :

cd /automount/datashare/; ls

Explanation :

As per the above command, we are checking the share data.

Output :

Conclusion

We have seen the uncut concept of “Linux Automount” with the proper example, explanation, and command with different outputs. As per the requirement, we can configure the automount file system. There is no need to automount and unmounts. It will reduce the system overhead.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Linux Automount. Here we discuss How Linux Automount Works and Examples to implement Automount with commands and outputs. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more –

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