How can I configure autofs so my mounts never timeout?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Issue

  • How can I configure autofs so my mounts never timeout?
  • I need persistent mounts, but I can't set them up in /etc/fstab.

Resolution

  • Per the man page, automount allows a timeout=0 setting to disable unmounting:
-t, --timeout
       Set the global minimum timeout, in seconds, until directories are unmounted. The default 
       is 10 minutes. Setting the timeout to zero disables umounts completely.
  • This setting can be added to /etc/sysconfig/autofs to disable unmounting as well:
# TIMEOUT - set the default mount timeout (default 600).
#
TIMEOUT=0

NOTE: If you add a --timeout value in /etc/auto.master file, this will supersedes the TIMEOUT option specified in the /etc/sysconfig/autofs file.

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