Using autofs

Instructions are the same for Ubuntu and RHEL except where noted

1. Install the autofs package
   • Ubuntu: apt-get install autofs
   • RHEL 8/9: dnf -y install autofs
2. Add "/nethome /etc/auto.nethome" to the end of the /etc/auto.master file
3. Create/Edit the /etc/auto.nethome file and add "* -noacl,noatime,tcp,nosuid,fsc <Fileserver FQDN or IP>:<path to exported nethome directory>/&"
   • Substitute <braces> with your file server's configuration
   • E.g., for nethomes from csefiles.cc, use "* -noacl,noatime,tcp,nosuid,fsc csefiles.cc.gatech.edu:/export/hcsefiles1/&"
4. Start and enable the autofs service with systemctl enable --now autofs
5. Ensure that you can access your nethome when logging into the system as yourself. If not, see Troubleshooting below

Using /etc/fstab

1. Create /nethome if it doesn't exist already with mkdir /nethome 
2. Edit the /etc/fstab file and append "<Fileserver FQDN or IP>:<path to exported nethome directory> /nethome nfs defaults 1 2"
   • Substitute <braces> with your file server's configuration
   • E.g., for nethomes from csefiles.cc, use "csefiles.cc.gatech.edu:/export/hcsefiles1 /nethome nfs defaults 1 2"
3. Run mount -a
4. Ensure that you can access your nethome when logging into the system as yourself. If not, see Troubleshooting below

Client SSSD Update

Add the following lines to the sssd configuration under /etc/sssd/conf.d/ or /etc/sssd/sssd.conf. Add the lines beneath a "[domain/gatech.edu]" heading or create a new one.

[domain/gatech.edu]
homedir_substring = /nethome
override_homedir = /nethome/%u

File Server Side

Home Directories

You may want the file server to use the home directory it's exporting as its home directory. You can update the sssd configuration to point to /nethome for home directories, but you should not update it to point directly at the ZFS filesystem. Instead, create a soft link for nethome that points to the ZFS home directories.

E.g., This creates a symlink at "/nethome" that points to "export/nethome": ln -s export/nethome /nethome

ZFS

Ensure that nethomes are being shared via the sharenfs property on the filesystem. You can see a list of currently shared filesystems with "zfs list -o name,mountpoint,sharenfs -S sharenfs". You can further check this by running showmount -e on the system to see the exported filesystems.

While this is usually set at the filesystem's creation, to change the property on a zfs filesystem, use "zfs set sharenfs='rw=@<IP or CIDR subnet>[,rw=@<IP or CIDR subnet>]' <ZFS filesystem>". [Square brackets] are optional and <braces> should be replaced
E.g., to share gbriaud3's nethome on csefiles.cc with the 125 and a specific address in the 124 subnet, use "zfs set sharenfs='rw=@130.207.125.0/24,rw=@130.207.124.123' nethome/gbriaud3"

Troubleshooting [WIP]

• Are the client system and the file server on the same subnet? If not, check firewall rules