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Setting Up Autofs for NFS Mounts

nfs autofs
Hugo
Author
Hugo
DevOps Engineer in London

Set up NFS:

Autofs is a file system management tool that offers several key features:

  • Dynamic Mounting: File systems are mounted on-demand when they are accessed, reducing the number of mounts that need to be managed manually.
  • Improved Performance: By reducing the number of mounted file systems, Autofs can improve system performance by reducing the amount of system resources required to manage mounts.
  • Increased Security: Autofs can increase system security by reducing the number of mounted file systems available at any given time. This reduces the attack surface of the system.

Autofs mount methods:

  • Direct
  • Indirect

Let’s say nfs server is 192.168.0.101.

Direct mapping example:

  • Map 192.168.0.101:/data to /data
vi /etc/master.auto
/- /etc/direct.auto
/home /etc/home.auto
vi /etc/direct.auto
/data 192.168.0.101:/data

Indirect mapping example:

  • Map 192.168.0.101:/data/hugotse to /home/hugotse
  • Map 192.168.0.101:/data/ to /home/
vi /etc/home.auto
hugotse 192.168.0.101:/data/hugotse
* 192.168.0.101:/data/&

Autofs man page: