LinuxQuestions.org - rc.autofs missing in slack 10.0

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rc.autofs missing in slack 10.0

I am trying to get ramped up on autofs with my slackware 10.0 box.

I am setting up my slackware box to be a NIS client to my RedHat server. That part is almost done.

I want to enable autofs to automount the home directory on the RH server using NFS.

I have realize that that autofs package in the 10.0 install disks does not install the configuration files or the rc.autofs startup file. The example file (rc.autofs.in) that comes in the package only works on RH and Debian I believe.

Is there a "standard" slackware rc script and configuration files for autofs, or will I need to build one (or hack the example one) myself?

I have gotten autofs to work on my Slackware 10.0. I'm not totally satisfied, but it does work. I think the rc.autofs script at

http://mariner.cs.ucdavis.edu/slackw...ware/rc.autofs

is the one to use. Also, the /etc/auto.master and /etc/auto.whatever files need to match with the mount point; i.e. if $ cat /etc/auto.master is:

/mnt/whatever /etc/auto.whatever --timeout=5

then you need to have the file /etc/auto.whatever that gives the specific mount points and options. Mine would not work with /etc/auto.master :

/mnt/whatever /etc/auto.stuff --timeout=5

until I renamed /etc/auto.stuff to /etc/auto.whatever. I think that is clear as mud.

arobinson74- I'm guessing that you got everything up and running right. How about a detailed step by step on how to set it up? What exactly does autofs do? Do you need other packages installed to get it working? Is it running exactly like you think it should or does it have some problems.

Just suggesting it because I'm thinking that you got it working right, and it would be nice to see a simple step-by-step for all the other Slackers. That, and I think it would be something I might like to try out and it would save me the trouble of looking it up myself. :)

Got NIS working great, have been fooling around with a bunch of other packages lately, and have not gone back to the autofs yet. For the moment, I am using a script launched from /etc/profile to map a soft link in the users home directory on login to my other computer's home directory, so don't really need autofs at the moment, in which I thought I would. If I get around to it, I can post it.

Well, autofs is running, but my needs are simple. I use it to access the cdrom and floppy drives, but I have had it configured to access nfs shares.

"How about a detailed step by step on how to set it up?"

The script at http://mariner.cs.ucdavis.edu/slackw...ware/rc.autofs should be copied to /etc/rc.d/rc.autofs. The permissions should read rwxr xr x which can be accomplished with # chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/rc.autofs.

An entry should be made in /etc/rc.d/rc.local like:
# === start autofs
/etc/rc.d/rc.autofs start

or perhaps:
# === start autofs
. /etc/rc.d/rc.autofs

The file /etc/auto.master should be created. In my simple case, the file reads like this:

# /etc/auto.master
#
/mnt/rd /etc/auto.rd --timeout=3

Since the mount "key" is rd, I must also create a file /etc/auto.rd, which, in my case, reads like this:

# /etc/auto.rd
#
floppy -fstype=vfat,sync,user,umask=002,gid=users :/dev/fd0
cdrom -fstype=iso9660,ro :/dev/hdc

That is the complete configuration as far as I recall. There are no corresponding entries in /etc/fstab, but there is no need to delete or comment out /etc/fstab entries for the floppy and cdrom either (they might be handy sometime). If you do a google search and read the manual page (man autofs; man auto.master; man automount) you will probably see how to adjust the configuration for your purposes. Probably the most trying thing is the mount options for the floppy drive, since vfat is the usual filesystem.

To use autofs, one simply enters a command such as:
$ ls /mnt/rd/cdrom
or
$ cp ~/important.doc /mnt/rd/floppy

The attempt to access the mount "key" triggers the automounting. After the timeout period has elapsed, the mount will expire and the cdrom or floppy can be removed.

Now, what would really add to the usefulness would be incorporating this into filemanager programs. I use xfce often, and I think it could be done there fairly easily. If you use desktop icons, you could make one with a command such as "xffm /mnt/rd/floppy" and that will open the file manager with the floppy drive shown.

I hope that helps.

kevmccor-

Thanks for the guide. I had started reading on this, and it looked to me like a kerenl patch was needed for supermount in order to get this working. Is this not the case? I'll have to try this out. Anyone else have any thoughts/caveats with regards to using autofs for automatic mounting of floppies and optical drives?

On a side note, what re teh common filesystems on floppies? I don't have a floppy, but I've been thinking about adding one, "just in case." If I do, I guess it would probably be a good idea to compile in the filesystems support for the types that floppies use.

Thanks again,

Shilo

The standard fs on floppies is fat12. I guess vfat would cover that. Other than that, you CAN make a floppy just about any fs you want, but you will can also run into fs overhead issues then. I would stick with vfat

Just mounting multiple partytions

Hello,

If i want to do an auto mount, i should be able to mount normally using mount /dev/bla.. my problem is i bought this western digital mobile usb harddrive which costs a fortune to start with, but i could mount it easily out of the box. Problem is i could not mount a usb stick at the same time. So figured i will solve the problem later, i partioned the disk later using partition magic into three partitions all fat32 but i am only able to see one of this partitions and still not able to get the usb on anyways?

I have tried renaming the disk as another scsi namely; /dev/sdb in fstab but does not work. See this thread here
any help is appreciated.

Thanks

xmeson