automount

[mikeboz]

I need to have something in place to correct stale mount points.

For example, an NFS server is rebooted and some of its clients dont remount it.

why does this happen and how do I fix it.

It really stinks when the CEO call on the weekend asking why he cant get to an NFS.

Thanks,

Mikeb

 

[Butterfly123]

MAy be, there is no entry of the remote mount points in some NFS client machines (/etc/vfstab files.. ) Just check out..

 

[cassim]

Hi,

Your NFS mount points are defined in /etc/dfs/dfstab. Check this file out. The dfshares command is also useful

 

[mikeboz]

I have become familiar w/ these files.

the server has entiries in the dfs to share
the client has entries in the /etc/vfstab to mount.

but on occasion AFTER a period when the server was unavailable
the mount on the client is empty (stale?)

does a mount command need to be issued to recover from the server
being unavailable or should this mount point be up automatically?

mikeb

 

[Guest_imported]

I believe your NFS client's connection will time out after 20 minutes that it can't reach the server. The mount is established on boot up if you are referring to entries in the client's /etc/vfstab.
If you use automount I am not sure on the timeout or if it will retry. My hunch is that it would still work after the network went down and came back up because the connection is broken after a period of inactivity then reestablished when needed.

 

[Soladm]

Keep in mind that if you are automounting something there should not be an entry in the vfstab for it. Using autofs (automountd) and an entry in /etc/vfstab will cause problems. You should use one or the other, but not both. Also make sure that the NFS daemons on the server got restarted.... there should be a file/link in /etc/rc3.d called Sxxnfs.server. If this file is missing for some reason (or the daemon just isn't starting) your clients won't be able to mount the NFS directories as well.

Good Luck.
Have a Great Day!! )
soladm

 

[mikeboz]

Everything seems fine on the server. I would like the client to be able to mount the directory when he tries to browse the mount point and auto mount if it has timed out.
I found /etc/auto_master and /etc/auto_home files, but not much info in the man pages regarding them. Could you shed some light on using them.

Mikeb

 

[Soladm]

Using autofs with the auto_master and auto_home, etc... the autofs daemon intercepts requests for automounted file systems and checks the mount... if the mount point is still active the autofs daemon returns the request to the system and the original command is executed. If the mount is not active (usually unmounts after, I believe, 5 minutes of inactivity - by default), the autofs daemon sends the request to automountd and automountd remounts the requested file system, the request is sent back to the autofs daemon, then to the original request and the command is executed. If the mount becomes stale (NFS: Stale mount point)... I have had to either umount the device and mount it again, and if that doesn't work... a reboot on the client. I haven't had any luck with the Stale mount just reseting and all working on its own.

Hope this sheds some light on it for you even though it's not exactly what you wanted to hear.

Good luck and Have a Great Day!!! )
soladm

 

[mikeboz]

Thanks soladm