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From: gerrit@nova.cc.purdue.edu (Gerrit)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: HELP!?!?
Keywords: fstab, mounts, netinfo, help
Message-ID: <3488@mentor.cc.purdue.edu>
Date: 27 Jul 89 23:33:57 GMT
References: <3562@frame.UUCP> <344@eedsp.gatech.edu>
Sender: news@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
Reply-To: gerrit@nova.cc.purdue.edu (Gerrit)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Purdue University
Lines: 70

In article <344@eedsp.gatech.edu> flur@clemson.gatech.edu (Peter W. Flur) writes:
>
>On one of the machines (all with hard drives), I wanted to create an 
>entry in the fstab (netinfo fstab) for the optical drive, so I did.  
>For one reason or another, I changed my mind, and took it out of the
>database using NetInfo, along with another mount that was obsolete.  The
>only problem is, that after I rebooted the machine, it no longer wants
>to mount anything, even it's own disk.  Hence, df returns with just the 
>headers, /etc/mtab is empty, etc.  

[Posted rather than emailed, because it seems everyone runs into
 problems with NetInfo sooner or later.  The same style procedures
 will typically hold true for similar problems -gerrit]

First, you need to verify if the fstab "directory" still exists
in NetInfo.  Try the following:

% niutil -list . /

1        machines 
3        users 
16       services 
63       printers 
84       mounts 
100      groups 
351      networks 
1931     protocols 
1942     rpcs 

(All of the following commands will need to be done as "root").
The important one here for your situation is the "mounts" entry.  The
corresponding number (84 in this case) is not important to what you
are doing.  If the "mounts" entry exists, you can skip the next step.
Otherwise, you can create it via the following:

# niutil -create . /mounts

Now you have a place to store the mount information.  Next, put the
following lines in your /etc/fstab file (you may need to be root to
edit this file):

/dev/sd0a / 4.3 rw,noquota,noauto 0 1 
#/dev/od0a / 4.3 rw,noquota,noauto 0 1 

The second line is currently commented out.  If you ever want the
OD to be permanently mounted, remove the "#" character from the
front of the second line.  Make sure that there aren't two lines
which try to mount /dev/sd0a - either NetInfo or Unix might get
confused if there are (I've never tried confusing it that way - it
might be more robust than I'd bet on.)

Now, tell NetInfo about this information using:

# niload fstab . < /etc/fstab

Then, to finish things up, you should try the following

# mount -a

Then, to check up on things, try:

# df

If this doesn't work, send me a note letting me know what broke
and where, and I'll see if I can dream up something better.

Gerrit Huizenga
NeXT Workstation Support
Purdue University Computing Center
gerrit@cc.purdue.edu