Automounting home directories

[lazyrunner50]

If I have an NFS server which is exporting several users home directories, and I want to be able to mount the home directories on another box on my LAN, do I need to put each similar to this:

$cat /etc/auto.master
/home  auto.home

$cat /etc/auto.home
testUser       nfsServer:/export/home/&     -nosuid

$tail -1 /etc/passwd
testUser:x:505:505::/home/testUser:/bin/bash

I'd like to be able to do it for a large number of users, and it would be tedious to maintain the password file as well as auto.home for all the users. I looked at indirect maps...not sure if I understand them, but would it work if I did this?

$cat /etc/auto.master
/home auto.home

$cat /etc/auto.home
*       nfsServer:/export/home/&

I'm assuming that would allow me to mount any user under /home without having to put their username/password in the passwd file (how does the login process know this...?)

 

[Annihilannic]

but would it work if I did this?

Yes, that looks good.

I'm assuming that would allow me to mount any user under /home without having to put their username/password in the passwd file (how does the login process know this...?)

No, that isn't the case, you would also need to configure a directory service such as NIS or LDAP to allow the user authentication step.

Annihilannic.

 

[lazyrunner50]

Ok yeah, forgot about that, however, with NIS, you don't need to put the username/password in the passwd file.

 

[macd68]

The nis server (and it's secondaries) creates/distributes hashmaps based on various system specific data sources (files). See nsswitch.conf and the yp Makefile for details.

Only the ypserver needs to keep a passwd/shadow, etc..file-set updated (only on the primary host) and the clients don't need much besides proper PAM support, the ypclient and some other configuration tweaks.

LDAP does not require a resident file-set on any LDAP slave/master. It is a database backed directory service that
provides an expandable, modular framework of information identifiers and types. It offers secure data transfer (nis does not) via SSL/TLS.
Once configured and understood it's pretty simple to administer. The client requires PAM support,possibly a copy of the certficate used (for TLS) and a client config as per NIS.

My advice is to use LDAP if you have a choice.