Hi,
Does setting the autofs timeout=0 create a permanent mount?
What I'm trying to do is get the best of both world;
1) Have a persistent mount so that users can use autocompletion. 2) utilize the benefits of autofs so that when an NFS resource becomes unavailable, the system doesn't hang.
I've tried a timeout of 0 but it doesn't seem to work.
On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 10:16 AM, aurfalien@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
Does setting the autofs timeout=0 create a permanent mount?
What I'm trying to do is get the best of both world;
- Have a persistent mount so that users can use autocompletion.
- utilize the benefits of autofs so that when an NFS resource becomes
unavailable, the system doesn't hang.
I've tried a timeout of 0 but it doesn't seem to work.
A simple solution would be to setup a cron job that runs every 5 minutes and does ls /mount/point > /dev/null
On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 8:42 PM, Brian Mathis brian.mathis@gmail.com wrote:
A simple solution would be to setup a cron job that runs every 5 minutes and does ls /mount/point > /dev/null
I had to something on the same line at a client. On Mac OS X (10.5) workstation, users were complaining that "network files" (NFS export from Linux file server) were visible in the "finder" but on clicking it would not open. I asked them to open a terminal with a couple of tabs and showed them how to use "cd" to the paths that had the NFS mounts. The problem went away.
-- Arun Khan
On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Brian Mathis brian.mathis@gmail.com wrote:
A simple solution would be to setup a cron job that runs every 5 minutes and does ls /mount/point > /dev/null _______________________________________________
How would this fix the problem though? I'm asking cause I sit with the same problem, and haven't figured out yet to tell a remote server what todo if the NFS server is unavailable (be it network problems, maintenance, incorrect password, etc)
-- Kind Regards Rudi Ahlers SoftDux
Website: http://www.SoftDux.com Technical Blog: http://Blog.SoftDux.com Office: 087 805 9573 Cell: 082 554 7532
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Rudi Ahlers rudiahlers@gmail.com wrote:
On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Brian Mathis brian.mathis@gmail.com wrote:
A simple solution would be to setup a cron job that runs every 5 minutes and does ls /mount/point > /dev/null
How would this fix the problem though? I'm asking cause I sit with the same problem, and haven't figured out yet to tell a remote server what todo if the NFS server is unavailable (be it network problems, maintenance, incorrect password, etc)
Rudi Ahlers
It doesn't fix it -- it's an ugly workaround -- but it works to keep them mounted. I don't know of an elegant solution if the NFS server goes away. I've seen it hang the clients until they timeout. Maybe an NFS expert on the list will be able to provide a better solution.
On May 11, 2010, at 10:35 AM, Brian Mathis wrote:
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Rudi Ahlers rudiahlers@gmail.com wrote:
On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Brian Mathis brian.mathis@gmail.com wrote:
A simple solution would be to setup a cron job that runs every 5 minutes and does ls /mount/point > /dev/null
How would this fix the problem though? I'm asking cause I sit with the same problem, and haven't figured out yet to tell a remote server what todo if the NFS server is unavailable (be it network problems, maintenance, incorrect password, etc)
Rudi Ahlers
It doesn't fix it -- it's an ugly workaround -- but it works to keep them mounted. I don't know of an elegant solution if the NFS server goes away. I've seen it hang the clients until they timeout. Maybe an NFS expert on the list will be able to provide a better solution.
I did a cron on a client who is also an OSX 10.5 server and then killed the NFS server that it had automounted.
No hangs on the client but I haven't tested this on my Centos clients yet which is actually my main concern.
I was actually surprised that OSX behaved for once.
Brian Mathis wrote, On 05/11/2010 10:35 AM:
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Rudi Ahlers rudiahlers@gmail.com wrote:
On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Brian Mathis brian.mathis@gmail.com wrote:
A simple solution would be to setup a cron job that runs every 5 minutes and does ls /mount/point > /dev/null
How would this fix the problem though? I'm asking cause I sit with the same problem, and haven't figured out yet to tell a remote server what todo if the NFS server is unavailable (be it network problems, maintenance, incorrect password, etc)
Rudi Ahlers
It doesn't fix it -- it's an ugly workaround -- but it works to keep them mounted. I don't know of an elegant solution if the NFS server goes away. I've seen it hang the clients until they timeout. Maybe an NFS expert on the list will be able to provide a better solution.
not an expert, only a user who has been singed a few times. in the options for the mount I suggest: hard,intr
hard because soft has had some data loss issues for me. intr because sometimes you need to be able to interrupt a process while a server is down (say to be able to reboot the client box).
<near rant mode> BTW, keeping the mount point busy pretty much invalidates the use of autofs IAW the OP, i.e., the only benefit that you get from autofs at this point is that if the server is down at client boot then the client will be able to finish booting (which could have been accomplished by using the bg flag in the fstab (man 5 nfs)). The OP wrote: "2) utilize the benefits of autofs so that when an NFS resource becomes unavailable, the system doesn't hang."
If the file system IS mounted, then the system will hang until you can interrupt processes (why you need the intr option). If the file system is not needed then it should be unmounted so it can't hang the client.
A less drastic option for autocompletion issues would be to set a longer timeout, i.e., in auto.master change the line from: /misc /etc/auto.misc to: /misc /etc/auto.misc --timeout=3600 to get an hour between disuse and unmount (the default is 600 (man auto.master)).
If you really want permanent mounts, then I suggest going back to using fstab with the bg & intr options and ignore autofs, because it appears autofs only causes trouble for you.
If you want the benefits of autofs (no hung mounts if not mounted during server interruptions, less net traffic/connections when clients don't need remote file systems), you might be better served by using a longer timeout and re-reading James Pearson's email. </near rant mode>
BTW what applications are you having autocompletion issues with? I have been using autofs for ~15 years and have only had issues with soft mounting causing data corruption.
On May 11, 2010, at 6:49 PM, Todd Denniston wrote:
Brian Mathis wrote, On 05/11/2010 10:35 AM:
On Tue, May 11, 2010 at 10:01 AM, Rudi Ahlers rudiahlers@gmail.com wrote:
On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 5:12 PM, Brian Mathis brian.mathis@gmail.com wrote:
A simple solution would be to setup a cron job that runs every 5 minutes and does ls /mount/point > /dev/null
How would this fix the problem though? I'm asking cause I sit with the same problem, and haven't figured out yet to tell a remote server what todo if the NFS server is unavailable (be it network problems, maintenance, incorrect password, etc)
Rudi Ahlers
It doesn't fix it -- it's an ugly workaround -- but it works to keep them mounted. I don't know of an elegant solution if the NFS server goes away. I've seen it hang the clients until they timeout. Maybe an NFS expert on the list will be able to provide a better solution.
BTW, keeping the mount point busy pretty much invalidates the use of autofs
My critical servers are autofs and don't slam the nfs server.
However my clients do peg it so you are right.
If you really want permanent mounts, then I suggest going back to using fstab with the bg & intr options and ignore autofs, because it appears autofs only causes trouble for you.
Already do.
BTW what applications are you having autocompletion issues with? I have been using autofs for ~15 years and have only had issues with soft mounting causing data corruption.
Command line tab completion and a custom 3D script.
I think I'll do KISS on this one and just use fstab was I've been doing with bg, hard, intr.
aurfalien@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
Does setting the autofs timeout=0 create a permanent mount?
What I'm trying to do is get the best of both world;
- Have a persistent mount so that users can use autocompletion.
- utilize the benefits of autofs so that when an NFS resource becomes
unavailable, the system doesn't hang.
I've tried a timeout of 0 but it doesn't seem to work.
I can't see that making an autofs mount permanent will help ...
If the NFS server goes away and it is mounted on your client (via the automounter or statically), the client will still hang on accessing the mount point.
If you want to 'see' all the automount mount points, then start the automounter with BROWSE_MODE="yes" (in /etc/sysconfig/autofs)
James Pearson
On May 9, 2010, at 9:49 AM, James Pearson wrote:
aurfalien@gmail.com wrote:
Hi,
Does setting the autofs timeout=0 create a permanent mount?
What I'm trying to do is get the best of both world;
- Have a persistent mount so that users can use autocompletion.
- utilize the benefits of autofs so that when an NFS resource
becomes unavailable, the system doesn't hang.
I've tried a timeout of 0 but it doesn't seem to work.
I can't see that making an autofs mount permanent will help ...
If the NFS server goes away and it is mounted on your client (via the automounter or statically), the client will still hang on accessing the mount point.
I see, I was hoping to test and find out exactly what would happen.
Brian Mathis had a great suggestion so I went with it (crontab ls).
-
Arun Khan -
aurfalien＠gmail.com -
Brian Mathis -
James Pearson -
Rudi Ahlers -
Todd Denniston