where else besides fstab or init.d might an NFS mount be described?
 

I am virtualizing a pool of webservers. I converted two of them, but upon running, I noticed they were missing the two NFS mounts that the original servers listed.

So, I changed one of their temporary IPs to the live counterpart, and sure enough, one of the NFS mounts connected and was listed.

However, I cannot seem to find where the other mount is located. I've looked in the /etc/fstab and /etc/rc.d/rc.local. I just cannot seem to find where this other nfs mount is described.

I can't seem to find any web results since almost all responses pertain to using the stab or rc.local files to configure the client. I can try going ahead and just adding it to fstab, but I figure the other machines had it working somehow, and I would like to figure it out.

Any pointers on where else I should look? I don't think looking on the nfs server at exports (or elsewhere) will help, but I haven't looked there yet.

Hi,

did you check for autofs? Eg /etc/auto.*

Evo2.

Try using showmount -e <ServerIP/Hostname> to see the exported mounts on the specific server.

I considered autofs, but didn't check those files - I just did (auto.master, auto.net, auto.misc), doesn't seem to be any specific mention of the host whose mount I am missing.

---------- Post added 06-24-13 at 01:07 AM ----------

That is useful. With that, I verified the IP addresses I am seeing them on are indeed listed there. (one of which is the IP of the new, virtualized machine, whose source could see the mount, but the virtualized one can't)

Also wanted to note -my fstab says it's edited by fstab-sync, but I didn't see how that could be affecting what I am seeing.

Anywhere else I should be looking?

Check auto.master
in old & new systems. This means NFS type mounts will be mounted on demand ie if specifically used; will not be mounted if you just use df etc.
See also auto.net.

It looks like it's the default content in auto.master, commented out:

#/net /etc/auto.net

the auto.net file looks default/standard also.

Since it's commented out, I don't think any program set up this mount, right?

I guess I am leaning towards someone having set it up at some point by logging in? This server hasn't been turned off in six years, so it's possible, although I was pretty sure anyone who set it up would have set it up to mount on boot also.

The odd thing is I see similar mounts on other servers I am working with; like if the mount defined in fstab is 1.1.1.1/data/x/y/z /usr/local/some/deep/folder, when I look at mount, the 'phantom' mount is something like 1.1.1.1:/data /data.

But on some servers the IP is not the same (some it is). I am thinking maybe someone just mounted it temporarily to do a file copy?

Or is there somewhere else still I should be looking?

For now, I am setting up fstab on my new, virtualized machines to also include the 'phantom' mount point, so I guess no harm done. Just kind of bugging me that I can't figure out how they got set up in the first place.

If it was mounted manually, it might be in root history file (depending on how long ago...)

The history seems to go back quite far, but I had checked that originally and didn't see any manual mounts. I did look under other user accounts, but those users' histories don't come up at all.

Is there some other type of service that might be setting up that mount? For example, I just had a similar issue realizing there was a 'phantom' IP address, which was being added by a mySQL failover/heartbeat cluster (because the IP floats among the servers, it's not defined in the normal places on any of them). I don't think there was any distributed file system or anything like that. Even if there was, it would still be mounted in the places we've enumerated, right...

I think it's good to go being manually added to fstab, anyhow. It's just that things I can't really explain and have to write off keep bugging me! :)

Much better explicit in fstab, unless its just for 'browsing' in which case see my /net comment.
Realistically, any client can mount any nfs server mnt pt that its allowed to, by ANY method eg a bit of shell, C, Perl etc.
You may never find the original.

You're right on that last part, the more I think about it, the more it seems like it's some sort of a backup or admin task someone set up (probably in php via crontab) that could have mounted the whole /data share like that! I wasn't thinking along the lines of programmatic setup of the mount. Makes me feel better associating it with that!

Well, its not necessarily bad, just not complete.
I worked on a system that tested and mounted remote disks before using them but those mounts were also in the fstab.
The idea was to ensure the mnts were there before use (obviously), but also its possible the network wouldn't come fast enough before fstab tried to mount after a reboot.
The fstab entries were more of a central docco point :)