What is the difference between automount and AutoFS?

What is the difference between automount and AutoFS? Updated: 09/12/03


There are two versions of the Automounter available:

o automount: Also called the "legacy" or "user space" automounter,
ported from SunOS 4.X. The legacy automounter supports
NFS Version 2 over UDP ONLY (even on 11.x). When it
runs, you see a process named "automount" running.

o AutoFS: This is an older version of the Solaris AutoFS automounter.
The AutoFS automounter supports NFS Version 2 and 3 over UDP
and TCP. When it runs, you see a process named "automountd"
running, and a kernel helper process called "autofs_proc".
The "automount" command is used to re-read and update the
AutoFS configuration. AutoFS is only available on 10.20 NFS
patch versions since 1999. It is available on all 11.x NFS
patch levels.

The /etc/rc.config.d/nfsconf variable AUTOFS controls if the legacy
automounter is used (AUTOFS=0), or if the AutoFS is used (AUTOFS=1). You
cannot run both versions simultaneously on the same host. You can change
between the versions by stopping the nfs.client service, updating
nfsconf, and then restarting the nfs.client service.


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