UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

what is the difference between the /etc/vfstab and /etc/mnttab? when i check both files, the content is almost the same. can you enlighten me? what i know is /etc/vfstab is used for hard mounts.

Please post your exact Operating System and version. Anything to do with hardware is machine-specific.

I will assume a solaris OS.
if you are not using solaris then my answer may be very wrong...


/etc/vfstab is used to describe the file system you expect to use.
in this file you list the mount point and device of each file system.
you also have options for logging,fsck, mount order and auto mount.

if your file system is marked as auto mount then it will all mount at boot time.



/etc/mounttab is a list of what is mounted right now.
this is NOT a file you should be touching.
the OS will keep a list of what is mounted and on which device.
if you tinker with /etc/mounttab then bad things will happen, likely needing a re-boot to fix.



if you have all the file system in /etc/vfstab mounted then /etc/mounttab will look much like /etc/vfstab


hope this helps.

^
Thanks for explaining. and yes it is a Solaris machine

El comando mount leerá las entradas /etc/vfstab correspondientes a estos
sistemas de archivo, y las montará en la forma adecuada. Asimismo, cada vez que arranque el sistema, se leerá el archivo /etc/vfstab, y se montarán todos los sistemas de archivo que correspondan, incluyendo los nuevos.
Esto aplica a sun solaris.

Ezequiel Olmas