HOWTO autofs via OpenLDAP on RHEL5, Fedora Core 12

Please provide feedback in the comments, specially about other versions/distributions.

Server (hostname server.example.com)

  • # yum install openldap-servers openldap-clients
  • NFS: 
    # mkdir -p /export/foo; touch /export/foo/demofile
# echo "/export/foo *(ro)" >> /etc/exports
# chkconfig nfs on; service nfs start
  • LDAP:
    • Modify /etc/openldap/slapd.conf:
      • Add line 8: 
        include /etc/openldap/schema/redhat/autofs.schema
      • Modify suffix and rootdn by replacing dc=my-domain,dc=com by dc=example,dc=com
      • Define a rootpw by uncommenting: 
        rootpw secret
      • Give read-only access to everyone by adding: 
        access to * by * read
    • # chkconfig ldap on; service ldap start
    • Populate the directory: 
      # ldapadd -c -x -D cn=Manager,dc=example,dc=com -w secret << EOF
dn: dc=example,dc=com
dc: example
objectClass: top
objectClass: domain
objectClass: domainRelatedObject
associatedDomain: example.com

dn: ou=auto.master, dc=example, dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: automountMap
ou: auto.master

dn: cn=/home, ou=auto.master, dc=example, dc=com
objectClass: automount
cn: /home
automountInformation: ldap server.example.com:ou=auto.home,dc=example,dc=com

dn: ou=auto.home, dc=example, dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: automountMap
ou: auto.home

dn: cn=foo, ou=auto.home, dc=example, dc=com
objectClass: automount
cn: foo
automountInformation: -fstype=nfs,hard,intr,nodev,nosuid server.example.com:/export/foo
EOF

Client

  • Check connectivity & name resolution: 
    # ping server.example.com
  • # yum install autofs
  • Add ldap to the automount line in /etc/nsswitch.conf: 
    automount: files ldap
  • In /etc/sysconfig/autofs:
    • Uncomment: 
      MAP_OBJECT_CLASS="automountMap"
ENTRY_OBJECT_CLASS="automount"
MAP_ATTRIBUTE="automountMapName"
ENTRY_ATTRIBUTE="automountKey"
VALUE_ATTRIBUTE="automountInformation"
    • Set those variables: 
      BROWSE_MODE="yes"
LDAP_URI="ldap://server.example.com"
SEARCH_BASE="dc=example,dc=com"
  • # service autofs start
  • Final check: 
    # ls -l /home/foo/demofile

Leave a Reply