2.6 Using automount with ClearCase on UNIX

This section discusses use of the standard UNIX automount(1M) program with ClearCase. Implementations of the facility vary from architecture to architecture; consult the documentation supplied by your hardware vendor.

For information on automounting and access to ClearCase from non-ClearCase hosts, see Using automount with Non-ClearCase Access.

Automounter Maps

You can use any automount maps, including both direct and indirect maps, to access remote disk storage where VOB storage areas reside. Keep in mind that within each network region, VOB mount points must be consistent across all of the region's hosts.

Using the -hosts Map

ClearCase looks for symbolic links to the mount points created through the -hosts map in any of these directories:

/net (the automount default)
/hosts
/nfs

If your site uses another directory for this purpose (for example, /remote), create a UNIX symbolic link to provide access to your directory through one of the expected pathnames. For example:

# ln -s /remote /net

Not Using the -hosts Map

If a host does not use the -hosts map to make remote VOB and view storage directories accessible, you must be careful when executing mkvob and mkview on that host. The heuristics that these commands use to guess a networkwide pathname for the new storage directory will fail. (See Ensuring Global Access to the VOB-Special Cases for UNIX.) On such hosts, you must use the -host, -hpath, and -gpath options to mkvob and mkview to ensure that valid information is recorded in the ClearCase storage registries.

Specifying a Nonstandard Mount Directory

By default, automount mounts directories under /tmp_mnt. If a ClearCase host uses another location for a host's automatic mounts (specified on some platforms using the -M option to automount), you must specify it in the file /var/adm/atria/config/automount_prefix. For example, if your automatic mounts take place within directory /autom, place this line in the automount_prefix file:

/autom