Linux NFS automount, Sun Solaris NIS YP, auto.direct

I have successfuly made a Redhat Linux Enterprise V3 client join a Sun
Solaris NIS YP domain. The auto home directory mounting part through NIS YP
map works, users can use their NIS user ID and passwd to log into the Redhat
client and see their home directories which reside on a NFS server running
Solaris OS.

However, there are some other directories on the same NFS server that should
be auto-mounted by my clients too through the Solaris YP auto.direct map. It
works on Sun clients but not on the Redhad clients.

I read some artciles saying that the YP auto.direct map is not supported by
the automount in Linux. Is it (still) true? If so, do I have other ways to
auto-mount these directories on Redhat? using amd instead? Does amd support
home directory auto-mount?

thanks,

Philip

On Fri, 16 Jul 2004 14:34:52 -0500, Philip Sheng wrote:
> ...Redhat Linux Enterprise V3 client join a Sun Solaris NIS YP domain.
> The auto home directory mounting part through NIS YP map works...
[snippage]
> I read some artciles saying that the YP auto.direct map is not supported
> by the automount in Linux...

I seem to remember answering this (or one like it) in another newsgroup?

Someone, I believe on alt.os.linux.suse pointed out that a (recent?)
version of the kernel automounter (autofs4) does support direct maps. I
have not yet test this. I'm waiting for my SuSE 8.1 upgrade first.

--
Juhan Leemet
Logicognosis, Inc.

"Philip Sheng" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> I read some artciles saying that the YP auto.direct map is not supported by
> the automount in Linux. Is it (still) true? If so, do I have other ways to
> auto-mount these directories on Redhat? using amd instead? Does amd support
> home directory auto-mount?

Hmm.. It's supposed to work. But I equipped a set of Suse 9 boxes as
yp clients, and the automount just did not work at all. Neer got
round to finding out why. Let me know how you get on.

On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 09:48:21 -0700, Robert E A Harvey wrote:
> "Philip Sheng" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>> I read some artciles saying that the YP auto.direct map is not supported by
>> the automount in Linux. Is it (still) true? If so, do I have other ways to
>> auto-mount these directories on Redhat? using amd instead? Does amd support
>> home directory auto-mount?
>
> Hmm.. It's supposed to work. But I equipped a set of Suse 9 boxes as
> yp clients, and the automount just did not work at all. Neer got
> round to finding out why. Let me know how you get on.

Which autofs did you use? My SuSE 8.2 standard install autofs is
autofs-3.1.7 (and I'm pretty sure that doesn't support direct maps, but I
can't remember if that's the one I tested, or on a previous SuSE version).
Someone pointed out that you need to use the optional autofs4 (which in
SuSE 8.2 is autofs4-4.0.0pre10 that is shipped, but is not part of the
standard install. Which distro/version are you running? Which autofs?

--
Juhan Leemet
Logicognosis, Inc.

Juhan Leemet <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> > Hmm.. It's supposed to work. But I equipped a set of Suse 9 boxes as
> > yp clients, and the automount just did not work at all. Neer got
> > round to finding out why. Let me know how you get on.
>
> Which autofs did you use?

Don't know now. Whichever one came with suse 9. I did not have time
to sort it, but I was surprised, 'cos both the server and the clients
were installed off the same disks.

On Sun, 18 Jul 2004 01:33:13 -0700, Robert E A Harvey wrote:

> Juhan Leemet <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>> > Hmm.. It's supposed to work. But I equipped a set of Suse 9 boxes as
>> > yp clients, and the automount just did not work at all. Neer got
>> > round to finding out why. Let me know how you get on.
>>
>> Which autofs did you use?
>
> Don't know now. Whichever one came with suse 9. I did not have time
> to sort it, but I was surprised, 'cos both the server and the clients
> were installed off the same disks.

I don't think that matters. I believe the direct map support is a client
only thing, as implemented in the appropriate autofs. It is quite possible
that your SuSE 9.x NFS server is serving out direct maps just fine, but
the client NFS with autofs does not know how to interpret them. I'm
waiting for my SuSE 9.1 update, then I'll be testing this out.

--
Juhan Leemet
Logicognosis, Inc.

"Juhan Leemet" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed) om...
> On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 09:48:21 -0700, Robert E A Harvey wrote:
> > "Philip Sheng" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
> >> I read some artciles saying that the YP auto.direct map is not
supported by
> >> the automount in Linux. Is it (still) true? If so, do I have other ways
to
> >> auto-mount these directories on Redhat? using amd instead? Does amd
support
> >> home directory auto-mount?
> >
> > Hmm.. It's supposed to work. But I equipped a set of Suse 9 boxes as
> > yp clients, and the automount just did not work at all. Neer got
> > round to finding out why. Let me know how you get on.
>
> Which autofs did you use? My SuSE 8.2 standard install autofs is
> autofs-3.1.7 (and I'm pretty sure that doesn't support direct maps, but I
> can't remember if that's the one I tested, or on a previous SuSE version).
> Someone pointed out that you need to use the optional autofs4 (which in
> SuSE 8.2 is autofs4-4.0.0pre10 that is shipped, but is not part of the
> standard install. Which distro/version are you running? Which autofs?
>
> --
> Juhan Leemet
> Logicognosis, Inc.
>

I am using the autofs that comes with Red Hat Enterprise 3.

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 13:31:07 -0500, Philip Sheng wrote:
> "Juhan Leemet" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news(E-Mail Removed) om...
>> On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 09:48:21 -0700, Robert E A Harvey wrote:
>> > "Philip Sheng" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote
>> >> I read some artciles saying that the YP auto.direct map is not
>> >> supported by the automount in Linux. Is it (still) true? If so, do
>> >> I have other ways to auto-mount these directories on Redhat? using
>> >> amd instead? Does amd support home directory auto-mount?

I don't know. I once found a version of amd and tried it on my SuSE Linux
in a mixed Linux and Sun Solaris network. It broke all my NFS automount
client stuff on the Linux box. I might have done something wrong, but
since then I've been using autofs (kernel automounter). That works for me.

>> > Hmm.. It's supposed to work. But I equipped a set of Suse 9 boxes
>> > as yp clients, and the automount just did not work at all. Neer got
>> > round to finding out why. Let me know how you get on.
>>
>> Which autofs did you use? My SuSE 8.2 standard install autofs is
>> autofs-3.1.7 (and I'm pretty sure that doesn't support direct maps, but
>> I can't remember if that's the one I tested, or on a previous SuSE
>> version). Someone pointed out that you need to use the optional autofs4
>> (which in SuSE 8.2 is autofs4-4.0.0pre10 that is shipped, but is not
>> part of the standard install. Which distro/version are you running?
>> Which autofs?
>>
> I am using the autofs that comes with Red Hat Enterprise 3.

OK, I don't know which one(s) that is. I suspect (conjecture on my part)
that autofs-3.x does NOT support direct maps, but autofs4-4.x DOES support
them. As soon as I get my SuSE 9.1 upgrade, I will test this again.

Check with "rpm -q autofs" to see which version of autofs you have
installed. It is possible RedHat may have come with more than one version?
As I said, SuSE 8.2 comes with 3.1.7 and 4.0.0pre10.

--
Juhan Leemet
Logicognosis, Inc.