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Confusion with using /etc/auto.home

hello. Im reading a book on using auto.master and auto.home to set up user directories. It makes sense - but this book says that it will not work if there is already a home directory on the server (the one where the user is logged in - not the one where the home directory actually is).
But I cannot see how to delete the home directory- do I need to do this for auto fs to work ?
Astin

Steven Vona

I am not sure I understand your question... Why would you want to delete a home directory?

autofs is usually used to mount a second filesystem, instead of usiong /etc/fstab.

For example a CDROM, A USB drive, share on another server, or even a second hard drive.

You might want to change the users home directory for deleting it:

usermod -d /new/home/dir

then you should be able to safely delete the old one.

astincrawford

ASKER

thanks for the reply. this is just to configure a users home directory, which is currently located on a windows server.
I've set up the /etc/auto.master to point to /etc/auto.home and set up the auto.home file - but it doesn't seem to mount - no errors are given, but I'd expect to see some files in the (remote) home directory and there's nothing there.

astincrawford

ASKER

is there a place where I can see messages telling me if the client linux box cannot attach to the server with the home directory - /var/log/messages does not show anything ?

Steven Vona

Can you post the contents of your auto.master and auto.home files?

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Steven Vona

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astincrawford

ASKER

thanks. thats ideal.