Automounting NFS share in OS X into /Volumes

osx_automount_nfs.md

I have spent quite a bit of time figuring out automounts of NFS shares in OS X...

Somewhere along the line, Apple decided allowing mounts directly into /Volumes should not be possible:

/etc/auto_master (see last line):

#
# Automounter master map
#
+auto_master		# Use directory service
/net			-hosts		-nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home			auto_home	-nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers	-fstab
/-			-static
/-			auto_nfs	-nobrowse,nosuid

/etc/auto_nfs (this is all one line):

/Volumes/my_mount    -fstype=nfs,noowners,nolockd,noresvport,hard,bg,intr,rw,tcp,nfc nfs://192.168.1.1:/exports/my_share

Make sure you:

sudo chmod 644 /etc/auto_nfs

Otherwise the automounter will not be able to read the config and fail with a ... parse_entry: getmapent for map failed... error in /var/log/messages

This will not work (anymore!) though it "should".

$ sudo automount -cv
...
automount: /Volumes/my_mount: mountpoint unavailable

Note that, if you manually create the mount point using mkdir, it will mount. But, upon restart, OS X removes the mount point, and automounting will fail.

What's the solution?

It's so easy my jaw dropped when I figured it out. Basically, we trick OS X into thinking we're mounting somewhere else.

When you're talking about paths in just about any environment, the root folder is the highest path you can reach, whether it's C:\ (windows) or / (*nix)

When you're at this path, attempting to reach the parent path, via .. will keep you at the root path.

For example: /../../../../ is still just /

By now, a few of you have already figured it out.

TL;DR / Solution:

Change your /etc/auto_nfs config from (this is all one line):

/Volumes/my_mount    -fstype=nfs,noowners,nolockd,noresvport,hard,bg,intr,rw,tcp,nfc nfs://192.168.1.1:/exports/my_share

For pre-Catalina: To (this is all one line)

/../Volumes/my_mount    -fstype=nfs,noowners,nolockd,noresvport,hard,bg,intr,rw,tcp,nfc nfs://192.168.1.1:/exports/my_share

For Catalina and up: To (this is all one line)

/System/Volumes/Data/../Data/Volumes/my_mount    -fstype=nfs,noowners,nolockd,noresvport,hard,bg,intr,rw,tcp,nfc nfs://192.168.1.1:/exports/my_share

And re-run the automounter:

$ sudo automount -cv
...
automount: /Volumes/my_mount: mounted

..... there you go! Technically /../Volumes is still /Volumes, but the automounter does not see things that way ;)

This configuration persists the mount across restarts, and creates the mountpoint automatically.

I KNOW, RIGHT?

Feel free to send me large checks and/or high five the screen. hitmeup@l422y.com

My "struggle" with getting MacOS Catalina NAS NFS shares was quite simple, once I got the right information. Configuration files.

/etc/auto_master:

#
# Automounter master map
#
# Literal mount point for filesystems described in "auto_resources"
#
/System/Volumes/Data/Volumes auto_resources
+auto_master		# Use directory service
    ... the rest is just boiler plate...

/etc/auto resources:

share1 -fstype=nfs,resvport,locallocks,soft,intr,rw,rsize=16384,wsize=16384,fnc 192.168.10.12:/mnt/share1
share2 -fstype=nfs,resvport,locallocks,soft,intr,rw,rsize=16384,wsize=16384,fnc 192.168.10.12:/mnt/share2

Afterwards: sudo automount -vc

One point: Make sure you can manually mount your NFS shares, and have proper access to the mounted filesystem before configuring automount.

Does anyone have a solution to /etc/auto_master being overwritten on Catalina updates>

Does anyone have a solution to /etc/auto_master being overwritten on Catalina updates>

Make a copy and copy it over the new /etc/auto_master after each update. Or restore it from a backup (Time Machine or else) after the update. That's what I used to do, nothing automatic I'm afraid.

Does anyone have a solution to /etc/auto_master being overwritten on Catalina updates>

Make a copy and copy it over the new /etc/auto_master after each update. Or restore it from a backup (Time Machine or else) after the update. That's what I used to do, nothing automatic I'm afraid.

Thanks - that's what I do, but it's really annoying if there's an automatic update while I'm away as I have some jobs which will fail.
Debian has a autofs.master.d folder which allows custom config to be included which doesn't get clobbered - it's a shame there's nothing similar on Catalina.

I struggled with the same "overwritten" problem but found a solution. My first attempt was rewriting auto_master with launchd. Works fine but it feels like a workaround. My "proper" solution is by using vifs and fstab.

The solution is described in "Persistent NFS Mountpoints on macOS".

I struggled with the same "overwritten" problem but found a solution. My first attempt was rewriting auto_master with launchd. Works fine but it feels like a workaround. My "proper" solution is by using vifs and fstab.

The solution is described in "Persistent NFS Mountpoints on macOS".

Thank you - that's really useful - I didn't know about vifs.
On Linux systems, fstab mounts the entries permanently on reboot. I saw that fstab is referenced in auto_master but it hadn't clicked that it was only used by automount on Catalina. Thanks again - I'll do some tests.

Do you still using NFS with Monterey? It was working fine to me until latest 12.7 update. Regards.

It was working fine with:

/etc/auto_master:
#
# Automounter master map
#
+auto_master        # Use directory service
#/net           -hosts      -nobrowse,hidefromfinder,nosuid
/home           auto_home   -nobrowse,hidefromfinder
/Network/Servers    -fstab
/-          -static
/Users/Share        auto_nfs

/etc/auto_nfs:
mntp    -noowners,nolockd,noresvport,hard,bg,intr,rw,tcp,nfc server:/share

Honestly I haven't used NFS in probably five or six years :)

for the latest OS - Sonoma - the command in /etc/auto_nfs that works for me is:
/System/Volumes/Data/../Data/Volumes/truenasnfs -fstype=nfs,noowners,nolockd,hard,bg,intr,rw,tcp,nfc,resvport nfs://192.168.100.4:/mnt/pool/truenasnfs

without "resvport" it was:
ls: /Volumes/truenasnfs: Operation not permitted

without "resvport" it was:

Interesting, I wonder if it's (inadvertently?) using the privileged access it needs for the privileged port (resvport) to access the filesystem as well

for the latest OS - Sonoma - the command in /etc/auto_nfs that works for me is: /System/Volumes/Data/../Data/Volumes/truenasnfs -fstype=nfs,noowners,nolockd,hard,bg,intr,rw,tcp,nfc,resvport nfs://192.168.100.4:/mnt/pool/truenasnfs

without "resvport" it was: ls: /Volumes/truenasnfs: Operation not permitted

Unfortunately... not working for MacOS 12.7. Not yet.
/System/Volumes/Data/Users/Share/SSD -fstype=nfs,noowners,nolockd,hard,bg,intr,rw,tcp,nfc,resvport nfs://iomega-nas.local:/SSD

This works:
sudo mount -o resvport,soft,intr,rsize=8192,wsize=8192 iomega-nas.local:/SSD /Users/Share/SSD

> without "resvport" it was: `ls: /Volumes/truenasnfs: Operation not permitted `

Out of curiosity: did you try disabling SIP or however those locking-out features are called nowadays (and if still possible..) ?