Automouting VOBs overview

Automounting filesystems is a familiar concept for most Linux and UNIX users. Typically, access to NFS filesystems is configured though the automounter. Examples include /net and automounted home directories. Automounting VOBs provides similar behavior, which is based on an automount map that is defined and associated with one or more specific VOB tag prefixes.

For example, if VOBs are defined with the following naming convention, an automount map for /vobs would be defined as follows:
/vobs/product
/vobs/tests
With the automount map, references to any valid VOB path name that begins with /vobs causes the specified VOB to be mounted.
Note: You must still use an HCL VersionVault view context to view and access objects in the VOB.

View-extended names such as /view/<viewtag>/vobs/<vob tag> also call the automounter, when it resolves the /vobs component of the path name.

A VOB path name reference might come from a variety of sources, including explicit shell command-line or cleartool/rcleartool command-line references, makefile references, or browsing in the HCL VersionVault Explorer.

Automounted VOBs are also automatically unmounted. The typical default timeout value is 10 minutes. That value is configurable; details depend on the host operating system and its automount daemon implementation.

The topics about automounting VOBs provide more detail and supporting examples for both VersionVault users and administrators.