1AUTOFS(8)                   System Manager's Manual                  AUTOFS(8)
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NAME

6       autofs - Service control for the automounter
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SYNOPSIS

9       If a SysV init script system is being used:
10       /etc/rc.d/init.d/autofs start|stop|restart|reload|status
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12       or if the systemd init system is being used:
13       systemctl start|stop|restart|reload|status autofs.service
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DESCRIPTION

16       autofs  controls the operation of the automount(8) daemon(s) running on
17       the Linux system. Usually autofs is invoked at system  boot  time  with
18       the  start parameter and at shutdown time with the stop parameter. Ser‐
19       vice control actions can also be manually invoked by the system  admin‐
20       istrator to shut down, restart, reload or obtain service status.
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OPERATION

23       autofs   will   consult  a  configuration  file  /etc/auto.master  (see
24       auto.master(5)) by default to find mount points on the system. For each
25       of  those mount points automount(8) will mount and start a thread, with
26       the appropriate parameters, to manage the mount point.
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28       /etc/rc.d/init.d/autofs reload or systemctl autofs.service reload  will
29       check the current auto.master map against the current automount managed
30       mounts. It will terminate those daemons or threads (depending on autofs
31       version)  whose  entries  have been removed, re-read the automount maps
32       for entries that have changed and start  new  daemons  or  threads  for
33       entries that have been added.
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35       If  an  indirect  map is modified then the change will become effective
36       immediately.  If an indirect map uses the browse option, the master map
37       contains  direct mount maps or the auto.master map is modified then the
38       autofs service control reload action must  be  rerun  to  activate  the
39       changes.
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41       /etc/rc.d/init.d/autofs  status or systemctl autofs.service status will
42       display the status of, automount(8), running or  not.  When  using  the
43       systemd  init  system the status output includes somewhat more informa‐
44       tion related to the service status.
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46       systemctl(1) has more functions than the actions  mentioned  here,  see
47       systemctl(1) for more information.
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SEE ALSO

50       automount(8),    autofs(5),    autofs.conf(5),   auto.master(5),   aut‐
51       ofs_ldap_auth.conf(5), systemctl(1).
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AUTHOR

54       This manual page was written by Christoph  Lameter  <chris@waterf.org>,
55       for  the Debian GNU/Linux system.  Edited by H. Peter Anvin <hpa@trans‐
56       meta.com> and Ian Kent <raven@themaw.net>.
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60                                  9 Sep 1997                         AUTOFS(8)
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