AutoFS

AutoFS uses the Linux kernel Automounter to automatically mount several types of media like memory sticks, network shares, CD-Rom/DVD/BR etc. on demand.

Kernel
You need to activate the following kernel options:

Software
Install :

Service
Start and add AutoFS to the default runlevel:

Files
The configuration files are located in:

Usage
General configuration files for AutoFS.

autofs configuration
The default options for autofs can be changed by setting the proper configuration variables located in. The default location for the master map is. It can be changed by setting the MASTER_MAP_NAME configuration variable in /etc/conf.d/autofs.

auto.master
In this configuration file is defined what other configuration files should be included as root mount-point. Here is one example with one additional mount-point on :

auto.misc
Here is our example for the file auto.misc. The folders for the mount-points are automatically created

Simple Windows-like SMB shares usage
If you want to use network SMB shares easily you can try the following configuration. You will be able to automount, for example, by issuing "cd /net/10.50.40.32/share" command in shell or "/net/10.50.40.32/share" in your browser or commander and work with the files inside as they were located on local machine. Make the following modifications:

Restart autofs daemon and you are ready to use simple automount.

External resources

 * Automount mini-Howto on The Linux Documentation Project website