updatedb scans nfs directories mounted via autofs

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Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11

Situation

On installing findutils-locate an additional daily cron job will be added to the cron system. This
job will run updatedb, and update the files database every night or shortly after switching on the computer.

Beginning with autofs version 5, updatedb scans files below automounted nfs directories.
On systems with lots of nfs directories it creates a lot of network traffic and slows down
updatedb.

The reason for this is that autofs does not write to /etc/mtab anymore.

This is documented in the autofs documentation on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11,
/usr/share/doc/packages/autofs/README.v5.release

- `autofs' filesystem mounts only appear in /proc/mounts and not
/etc/mtab. If you have a large number of entries in a direct mount
map and link /etc/mtab to /proc/mounts you may see performance
degradation.

Since the automounted directories are missing in the list of mounted directories,
the type of the mounted filesystem is not discovered and updatedb treats them as local.

Resolution

In /etc/sysconfig/autofs, change the option DEFAULT_BROWSE_MODE to "no".
It disables that maps are browsable and excludes paths mounted via automount.

Restart autofs: /etc/init.d/autofs restart.

Disclaimer

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