Automount and /home

[gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org (Jerry Feldman)]

Adding retry=3D3 (the default is 2) has no effect.  The issue appears not=
=20
to be automount per se, but that the first login (either directly on the =

console or via ssh) seems to try the home directory before the=20
automounter has time to mount it. One test I can try is to ssh as=20
another user, and see if I get the same result. I don't see this problem =

on any of the other servers (mostly RHEL 5.2 x86_64). The other IA64 is=20
running RHEL 4.0. There are 2 scenarios that need to be tested:
1.First user login after a boot (this is where I encounter an issue).=20
(eg. no one else home directories are mounted).
2. Login by any user if his home directory is not yet mounted (or had=20
auto unmounted). This is the case I just tested on the RHEL4 system and=20
RHEL 5.2 x86_64.
I also performed the test on an x86_64 system where no one else's home=20
directories were mounted.

SO, the issue seems to occur only on one IA64 system. I'll have to=20
create a bogus user to test case #2 on the IA64.

BTW: The monitor issue was strange. My Windows system came us as=20
1024x768 (normally 1680x1050) and did not recognize the monitor, so I=20
think the issue might have been that Windows kind of set the monitor=20
into a strange setting. A reboot of Windows cleared things up on both=20
sides :-)

On 05/26/2009 12:49 PM, Jerry Natowitz wrote:
> According to the nfs(5) man page, retry=3Dn is supported for nfs mounts=
=20
> in Linux.
>
> Jerry Feldman wrote:
>> AFAIK, the retry parameter is not supported in Linux, at least=20
>> according to the man pages. This morning for some reason the login=20
>> screen would not display on my monitor (this was related to the KVM), =

>> so I logged in via putty, and the login requested a password which=20
>> means the /home/gaf directory was not mounted, but after=20
>> authenticating, I was logged into my home directory. The issue is=20
>> strictly a timing issue where the mounting of the home directory=20
>> occurs after the initial login request. So, I think the issue may be=20
>> more in the login process rather than an issue with automount per se.
>>
>> On 05/25/2009 10:41 AM, Jerry Natowitz wrote:
>>> I remember having a similar problem on Solaris.  The solution was to =

>>> add "retry=3D3" to the auto_home line(s) in /etc/auto_master on the=20
>>> server.  I don't exactly what conditions required this, only that it =

>>> worked.
>>>
>>>     Jerry Natowitz
>>>     j.natowitz-KealBaEQdz4 at public.gmane.org
>>>
>>>
>>> Jerry Feldman wrote:
>>>> At work, I have a central NFS and NIS server. Normally on weekends=20
>>>> I turn off my workstation (HP Integrity IA64 running RHEL 5.1) when =

>>>> I reboot it, and try to log in from the GUI (GNOME), it tells me it =

>>>> can't find my home directory, and sometimes comes up the wrong=20
>>>> resolution. However if I restart the GUI by logging off or=20
>>>> ctrl-alt-backspace, everything is fine. Additionally, if I log in=20
>>>> from my Windows system using putty before I log in from the=20
>>>> console, everything is fine. Additionally, if I ssh to any of our 9 =

>>>> systems, the home directories generally come up. The only case=20
>>>> where it fails is the first login from the GDM login screen=20
>>>> initially after boot. It is a minor pain. Note that my network is=20
>>>> run through 2 GB Netgear switches, 1 switch connects the firewall,=20
>>>> and the office connectors, and the other one is located in the rack =

>>>> where the 8 servers are located. It's possible that the propagation =

>>>> delay could be part of the issue, but that would not explain why=20
>>>> ssh via putty works. One other bit of info is that when logging in=20
>>>> via GDM, I must enter my password which is authenticated by NIS,=20
>>>> where when I log in via ssh (or putty) I use RSA keys in my home=20
>>>> directory. In any case, this just seems to be a transient timing=20
>>>> issue where there might be a slight delay in the automounting. Once =

>>>> I log in to the initial session (no home directory), I can see that =

>>>> my home directory has been mounted.
>


--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846