Re: [TCLUG:15357] automount + yp == trouble (solved)

[Lynette Bellini <lynette@software.umn.edu>]

My SuSE 6.3 box is now correctly using NIS to obtain it's automount
maps. 

Here's the scoop:

client, /etc/auto.master
+auto.master
/home           auto.home 

client, /etc/auto{.,_}home
no such files

server (In my case running Solaris 2.6), /etc/auto_master
/home           auto_home       -nobrowse

server, /etc/auto_home
aix             moby:/export/aix
data            moby:/export/data

Having +auto.master in the auto_master or +auto.home in the auto_home
files doesn't seem to make any difference, although it appears to me
to be unnecessary (as someone pointed out), so I removed those entries
from the server maps.

It doesn't matter whether the server uses auto_home or auto.home to
reference the map; there's a sed line in the autofs script to deal
with that part so you don't have to worry about that bit of
compatibility.

In /etc/rc.config, USE_NIS_FOR_AUTOFS=yes is necessary.
I also placed it at the beginning of my autofs script so that var is
definitely set when I run it by hand.

Never forget that 
set -x 
exec 2>/tmp/foo.log
set 1>&2
Is invaluable in trying to debug scripts.

If you stop and restart the automounter by hand (not using the autofs
script), make sure you do kill -15. This gives the automounter an
opportunity to close itself down cleanly.

Sometimes even with clean shutdown the file /var/lock/subsys/automount
is left on the system. If this file exists, the automounter will think
it's already running and will not restart. If you know the automounter
is dead, rm /var/lock/subsys/automount before attempting any restart
to make sure this doesn't bite you.

> Under redhat if the file /etc/auto.master exists autofs and amd won't be
> fired with yp only files.  Check you rc script that starts your auto stuff to
> see how it behaves.

This is not the case under SuSE.

Lynette Bellini
Systems Administrator
University of Minnesota