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Setting Up NIS+ Automount Maps

The setup and administration of automounting on a network--running NIS+ on SunOS 5.x systems and NIS on SunOS 4.x systems--involves creating and maintaining NIS+ automount maps. The steps in the following sections describe how to create these maps on the NIS+ root master server. See "Administering NIS+ Automount Maps" later in this chapter for information on how to modify existing maps.

Setting Up the auto_home Map

The auto_home map is created when you set up the NIS+ root master server. You do not need to create it separately. If you have AdminSuite's Database Manager, you can use it to read or edit the contents of this map and to set up home directory information for your users.

Follow these steps to set up your initial entries in the Auto_home database:

1.  Make a list of all of the usernames. For each username, indicate the server used and the path to the user's home directory.
2.  Type solstice & and press Return to start the AdminSuite. The AdminSuite window is displayed.
3.  Click SELECT on the Database Manager icon. The Load Database window is displayed.
4.  Choose the name service used on your network.
5.  Check to see if the domain or the host name is correct. If not, type the domain or host name you want to access.
6.  Choose the Auto_home file.
7.  Click on the OK button. The Database Manager main window is displayed.
8.  For each user account:
a.  Type the name of the user in the User Name text field.
b.  Type server-name:pathname in the Path text field.
c.  Click SELECT or OK.

NOTE:  You do not need to make an entry for the auto_home map in the NIS+ auto_master map. The entry is already included in the default auto_master map. Consult All About Administering NIS+ (mentioned earlier) for information on how to set up NIS+ and how to convert the contents of NIS maps into NIS+ tables.

Setting Up Indirect Maps

Use the NIS+ command nistbladm to create and edit indirect maps on the NIS+ root master server.

NOTE:  The nistbladm command requires a fully qualified name for the table--that is, the name of the table, followed by the directory where the NIS+ tables are stored and the domain name, respectively. Note that for NIS+ commands, the domain name of a fully qualified name ends in a period. For example, auto_master.org_dir.Sun.COM. is the fully qualified name for the auto_master table, which is in the directory org_dir in the domain Sun.COM.
1.  Decide which indirect maps you want to create. Make a list of the mount points, the servers, and the pathnames for each indirect map.
2.  Log on to the NIS+ root master server. If you are a member of the group that has permission to edit NIS+ automount tables, you can edit the tables as yourself. Otherwise, you must become superuser on the NIS+ root master.
3.  For each indirect map you want to create, type 
nistbladm -c automount_map key=S value=S
auto_table-name.org_dir.domain-name.

and then press Return. The -c option creates the table, assigns it the table type automount, creates two columns named key and value--which are searchable--and assigns the table name auto_table-name. Note that any mount options you specify are part of the value.
4.  For each entry in the table, type 
nistbladm -a key=mount-point value=options,pathname
auto_table-name.org_dir.domain-name.

and then press Return. The -a option adds the entry to the table you specify, and the values are assigned to the columns.
5.  To display the values in the table, type 
niscat -v auto_table-name.org_dir.domain-name.

and then press Return.
6.  For each map you create, you must add an entry to the auto_master map.
a.  To display the names of the columns in the auto_master map, type 
niscat -o auto_master.org_dir.domain-name.

and then press Return.
b.  For each entry, type 
nistbladm -a key=mount-point value=map-name
auto_master.org_dir.domain-name.

and then press Return.

The auto_master map is only read at boot time or when the automounter is started. After you have completed creating new maps and have added the mount point and map name to the auto_master map, you must stop the automounter and restart it. With Solaris 2.3 and newer, you do not need to stop and restart the automounter. Instead, just run the automount command.

NOTE:  For Solaris 2.2 and later, you can restart the automounter and read the auto_master map by booting the system. To avoid interrupting services, however, I suggest that you restart the automounter from the command line.

Follow these steps to stop the automounter and restart it:

1.  Become superuser on the system on which you changed the auto_master map.
2.  Type ps -ef | grep automount and then press Return.
3.  Type kill -1 PID and then press Return. Note the PID of the process. It will be used in the next step.
4.  Type /usr/lib/nfs/automount and then press Return.

CAUTION! Never use the -9 option to kill the automounter."


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