# Autofs **URL:** \ **Category:** SLES Configure-Administer\ **Created:** [October 14, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/autofs/21837 "2011-10-14T14:26:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/autofs/21837/1 "2011-10-14T14:26:02Z")
Hey guys, I want to automount the /usr/local/whatever directory on a desktop, which is hosted by a server running SLES. I’m a bit of a newbie to SUSE and the automount stuff so I’d appreciate if somebody could explain to me in very simple terms how I can do this. I’m just not sure what goes in what file, and how to make subdirectories of the mounts visible etc. I am running SLES and SLED 11 SP1 with the latest kernel revisions. Thanks in advance! ## – ianmbr ianmbr’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=113607](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=113607) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/autofs/21837/2 "2011-10-18T19:34:17Z")
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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/autofs/21837/3 "2011-10-26T15:36:02Z")
Hi You can add a line similar like the following to your /etc/fstab: ## Code: server1:/share /usr/local/whatever nfs rw,soft * * * This will mount a share (called share) from the server “server1” to /usr/local/whatever with NFS. If you decide this way, you need to ensure, that the rpcbind and the nfs-daemon are started in the runlevel3: ## Code: $ chkconfig nfs on $ chkconfig rpcbind on * * * Hope this helps. Regards, Tom ## – amo\_vzug amo\_vzug’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=25342](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=25342) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/autofs/21837/4 "2011-10-26T16:36:02Z")
Using /etc/fstab is sort of the opposite of using autofs though. This seems like the sort of thing one ought to be able to find in ‘documentation’ ([http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles11/](http://www.novell.com/documentation/sles11/)), but I can’t find it on quick flip through. There’s a Cool Solution ‘here’ ([http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/17581.html](http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/feature/17581.html)), should be much the same for SLES 11 SP 1. My SLED 11 SP1 machines automount a volume via NFS and for what it’s worth this is what the relevant bits look like client side. ## Code: $ cat /etc/auto.master /mnt/auto /etc/auto.apps nosuid,ro $ cat /etc/auto.apps apps server-hostname:/apps $ ls -ld /apps lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 14 2009-08-13 18:11 /apps → /mnt/auto/apps * * * Users access the volume via /apps and when it’s accessed /mnt/auto/apps gets created by autofs and the volume mounted there. Server side stuff since it’s a Netware box not SLES so not relevant to what you’re doing. ## – mikewillis mikewillis’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=7510](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=7510) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/autofs/21837/5 "2011-10-26T22:36:01Z")
To add just a bit further to Mike’s response, I’ll give a quick synopsis of the purpose of those files: The auto.master file essentially defines: When something CDs into the path specified by the first value, automount daemon will be in control of what gets mounted within it, according to the file listed as the second value. Then the contents of that second file essentilaly says: the subdir ‘apps’ will be a mount point for server-hostname:\apps. That is the basic way autofs works. There are additional, more complex ways it can be used, but those are the basics. You can also alternatively activate the “/net” commented line that is already in auto.master, which will use the [auto.net](http://auto.net) file. The [auto.net](http://auto.net) file is a script which can dynamically discover servers and mount their nfs exports. With that approach, any time you CD to /net/server1, autofs will dynamically find server1, learn what it has nfs exported, and attempt to mount all those things within /net/server1/. Simarly for server2, anyname, etc. ## – dpartrid dpartrid’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=18260](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=18260) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/autofs/21837/6 "2011-10-27T00:26:02Z")
dpartrid;2149224 Wrote:[color=blue] > The auto.master file essentially defines: When something CDs into the > path specified by the first value, automount daemon will be in control > of what gets mounted within it,[/color] This makes me realise there was something I was going to explain but then forgot to. Applications being accessed via /apps is an historical precedent on our set up that I wanted to maintain. The reason I had /apps as a symbolic link to /mnt/auto/apps is because if I tried to have automount mount something at /apps I’d have to put / in to auto.master and then automount daemon would try to be in control of what gets mounted within / and of course that’s not going to work! ## – mikewillis mikewillis’s Profile: [http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=7510](http://forums.novell.com/member.php?userid=7510) View this thread: [http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838](http://forums.novell.com/showthread.php?t=446838)