autofsd(8)autofsd(8)NAME
autofsd, autofs - Automatically and transparently mounts and unmounts
NFS file systems
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/autofsd [-dv] [-D name=value] [directory -null]
OPTIONS
Enables debugging. When debugging is enabled, the daemon does not dis‐
associate itself from the current tty. Messages that trace autofsd
activity are written to standard output. Logs verbose output. Defines
an autofsd environment variable by assigning value to the variable.
Specifies the full pathname of the mount point for an indirect map
entry that is to be ignored.
You must specify excluded master map and direct map entries by
using the autofsmount command. See Special Maps in autofs‐
mount(8).
DESCRIPTION
The autofsd daemon automatically and transparently mounts and unmounts
NFS file systems on an as-needed basis. Like the automount daemon, it
provides another alternative to using the /etc/fstab file for mounting
NFS file systems on client machines. However, AutoFS is more efficient
than the automount daemon because it requires less communication
between the kernel and the user space daemon.
The autofsd daemon also provides higher availability than the automount
daemon. Although autofsd must be running for mounts or unmounts to be
performed, if it is killed or becomes unavailable, exisiting auto-
mounted NFS file systems continue to be available.
The autofsd daemon can be started from the command line or from the
/sbin/rc3.d/nfs script, which reads the /etc/rc.config.common file.
Once started, it remains dormant until a user attempts to access a
directory (or any file or directory in the directory hierarchy) that is
associated with an AutoFS map. The daemon then consults the appropri‐
ate map and mounts the NFS file system as specified.
AutoFS maps indicate where to find the file system to be mounted and
the mount options to use. The names of the maps are passed to the aut‐
ofsd daemon through the autofsmount command. For more information
about AutoFS maps and the autofsmount command, see autofsmount(8) and
the Network Administration: Services manual. Also, see sys_attrs_aut‐
ofs(5) for information on tuning AutoFS.
Note
The autofsmount program reads AutoFS maps at startup. If you make any
changes to the maps after startup, you must execute the autofsmount
command again to incorporate the changes.
By default, AutoFS uses UDP transport. If the tcp option is specified
in a map, AutoFS attempts to use TCP. If TCP is not available, AutoFS
then reverts to UDP.
RESTRICTIONS
There is no support in the autofsd daemon that is analogous to the
SIGTERM support in the automount command.
If a file system is locally served, the autofsd daemon creates a sym‐
bolic link on the system instead of NFS mounting the directory. If
locally serving the directory would result in a circular link, the dae‐
mon selects an external server (if available).
SEE ALSO
Commands: autofsmount(8), automount(8), mount(8)
Others: sys_attrs_autofs(5)
Network Administration: Services
autofsd(8)
