RE: OpenLDAP Automounter + Linux + Solaris 9

["Rigler, Steve" <SRigler@MarathonOil.com>]

AFAIK, the Linux automounter handles all of the nsswitch.conf stuff
during the init script when it is launched.  I'm pretty sure with 
Irix this would be handled internally via nsd and probably similarly
with Solaris.  It seems with Linux it's more of an independent feature
(the man page for nsswitch.conf doesn't even mention automount like
it does on Irix and Solaris).

Kinda kludgy and requires a lot of hacking to get Linux to integrate into
environments which are already prevalent with other *nix's and rely
on autofs.

-Steve

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg Matthews [mailto:gmatt@nerc.ac.uk]
> Sent: Friday, October 03, 2003 9:35 AM
> To: Tibbetts, Ric
> Cc: openldap-software@OpenLDAP.org
> Subject: Re: OpenLDAP Automounter + Linux + Solaris 9
> 
> 
> Hi Ric...
> 
> hope you dont mind, I'm going to cc this to the OLDAP list as 
> it may be
> useful to other people...
> 
> On Wed, 2003-10-01 at 17:23, Tibbetts, Ric wrote:
> > Yours is a bit different. Unfortunately, I suspect that 
> Linux would hit 
> > the local files, and stop, without checking the ldap files.
> > You might try this:
> > In /etc/nsswitch.conf
> > 
> > automount files [SUCCESS=continue] ldap
> 
> this was a good idea... unfortunately tho it didnt work... 
> I'm more and
> more convinced that the linux autofs doesnt properly handle directives
> in nsswitch.conf. It is also still somewhat hardwired to be NIS
> orientated (the +<name> doesnt work for ldap for example). 
> Until this is
> fixed up it will always be inferior to the more flexible 
> solaris version
> - is anyone actually working on autofs? autofs4 has been on the cards
> for ages but no sign of a release yet.
> 
> Incidentally Ric, presumably having the auto.master maps all in ldap
> like you do, you cannot serve up 'program' type maps?
> 
> I know this isnt strictly OpenLDAP specific but please dont flame me
> Howard! This list has the most LDAP related expertise I've 
> found on the
> net and maybe someone has found a solution to this or I'm way 
> off beam.
> 
> below: outline of problem discussed privately
> 
> 
> > -Ric
> > 
> > 
> > Greg Matthews wrote:
> > 
> > >Hi Ric...
> > >
> > >thanks for the examples. Looks verys similar to what i've 
> got altho I
> > >have my auto.master and auto_master as local /etc/ files. 
> I dont have
> > >the same problem that you do as these files are 
> automatically generated
> > >anyway so the admin is fine.
> > >
> > >On Wed, 2003-10-01 at 13:49, Tibbetts, Ric wrote:
> > >
> > >  
> > >
> > >>As to your requirement for local overides, that's a piece 
> of cake. Just 
> > >>make sure that in your /etc/nsswitch.conf you have:
> > >>
> > >>automount:  files ldap
> > >>
> > >>Then it will check the local flat files first, and LDAP 
> second. So you 
> > >>can do local overrides by just adding the proper entries 
> to your flat files.
> > >>    
> > >>
> > >
> > >no this doesnt work the way I want it to... for example, I have an
> > >automount map containing linux packages called
> > >nismapname=auto_packageslinux therefore in my auto.master (local or
> > >remote) i have the line:
> > >/packages ldap:nismapname=auto_packageslinux,dc=my,dc=base
> > >
> > >however, if I want to do a bit of development on a linux 
> package I want
> > >to have the directories local to me eg
> > >/local/packages/linux/mynewpackage
> > >
> > >with NIS I could have this in the auto.master:
> > >/packages /etc/auto_packages
> > >
> > >and this in /etc/auto_packages:
> > >mynewpackage localhost:/local/packages/linux/mynewpackage
> > >+auto_packageslinux
> > >
> > >which would have slurped up the NIS map as well to provide local
> > >overides to the map. The Linux automounter does not do 
> this for ldap.
> > >The best I can do is have a complete copy of the 
> auto_packageslinux map
> > >locally with an extra line for my override:
> > >
> > >mynewpackage localhost:/local/packages/linux/mynewpackage
> > >package1 server:/path/to/package1
> > >package2 server:/path/to/package2
> > >.
> > >.
> > >.
> > >
> > >I guess its not that common a setup but I'm disappointed 
> with the Linux
> > >automounter for other reasons too, I'm no coder tho so I 
> wont be trying
> > >to fix it up! It all works great on Solaris and with encryption.
> > >Googling around I've found a few people that have written 
> program maps
> > >(usually perl) to get around these problems but I wont be 
> going that
> > >far.
> > >
> > >GREG
> > >  
> > >
> -- 
> Greg Matthews
> iTSS Wallingford	01491 692445
> 
>