Mount AppleShare volume on bootup (not login)?

[weboweb]

I am trying to mount an appleshare volume at boot time (not login time) by storing the commands in /etc/rc.local, but I am having some problems. If I have the following commands in rc.local, the device mounts okay, but it's mounted as root so my other software can't access it:

#  /etc/rc.local

mkdir /Volumes/my_mount_point
mount_afp afp://user:pass@192.168.0.2/folder /Volumes/my_mount_point

So I tried to run the commands by sudoing to the user I needed it to be mounted under, like this:

#  /etc/rc.local

sudo -u sysadmin mkdir /Volumes/my_mount_point
sudo -u sysadmin mount_afp afp://user:pass@192.168.0.2/folder /Volumes/my_mount_point

But the mount_afp command would fail, with the following error (from /var/log/system.log):

# /var/log/system.log

myhostname sudo[141]:	root : TTY=unknown ; PWD=/ ; USER=sysadmin ; COMMAND=/sbin/mount_afp afp://user:pass@192.168.0.2/directory /Volumes/my_mount_point

com.apple.SystemStarter[51]: mount_afp: AFPMountURL returned error -1069 errno is -1069

error 1069 apparently occurs when the device to be mounted cannot be found, but it's definitely there, and if I run the mount_afp command when logged in as sysadmin, it works.

Does anyone have any ideas? Can I just mount it as root and then chown to sysadmin? I tried adding chown sysadmin -R /Volumes/my_mount_point to the first script, but it failed.

I am running out of ideas given my limited experience with unix, and apple's extensions to it. Any help, even a poke in the right direction, would be much appreciated.


P.S: I have previously posted this question at macrumors but I don't think anyone's going to respond (link).

[BjarneDM]

I'ld forget everyting about rc.local - Apple has deprecated the rc.* files.

Apple are advising to go the launchd route, so the solution I'm presenting to you here will go that route.

In your case you'll need two files: a plist and a script

The plist should look something like this:

bash-4.0# cat /Library/LaunchDaemons/info.mathiesen.mountafp.plist 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>EnableGlobbing</key>
	<true/>
	<key>Label</key>
	<string>info.mathiesen.mountafp</string>
	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
	<array>
		<string>~bjarne/System/sbin/mountafp</string>
	</array>
	<key>RunAtLoad</key>
	<true/>
	<key>UserName</key>
	<string>bjarne</string>
</dict>
</plist>

and the script something like this:

bash-4.0# cat mountafp 
#!/bin/bash

mkdir /Volumes/mountpnt
mount_afp afp://[user[;AUTH=uamname][:password]@]host[:port]/volume /Volumes/mountpnt

I'm assuming you'll be able to modify the above according to your own situation

You start things by executing this command as root:

launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/info.mathiesen.mountafp.plist

The man pages for launchd, launchd.plist and launchctl ought to enlighten you as to what I'm up to

Incidentially, the plist must be owned by root:wheel, and remember to chmod +x the script

I've tested it on my own iMac and it works as advertised

[weboweb]

Thank you BjarneDM. I have followed your recommendation, but unfortunately even with the new approach I am still getting error -1069 from mount_afp (and yet, if I enter the mount_afp commands over a terminal, they work fine).

I am beginning to think that the network interface might not be up when my script is running (as the volumes to be mounted are on the network).

[BjarneDM]

OK - then lets try this:

bash-4.0# cat mountafp 
#!/bin/bash

until ping -c2 -t5 [host] >/dev/null 2>&1
do
    sleep 5
done

mkdir /Volumes/mountpnt
mount_afp afp://[user[;AUTH=uamname][:password]@]host[:port]/volume /Volumes/mountpnt

[tlarkin]

I had a similar problem but it was due to the fact that my AFP shares were on old Novell servers that only supported plain text passwords. I also ended up using an Apple Script that invoked shell scripting in the script. For some reason, mount_afp gave me a lot of trouble, here is an example of my script:

tell application "Finder"
	
	mount volume "afp://user:passwd@sevrer.domain.com/sharepoint"
	
	delay 10
	repeat 25 times
		if (exists "sharepoint") then
			do shell script "open -a desired.app"
			exit repeat
			
		end if
		delay 2
	end repeat
end tell

My script was to automate a network share mapping and then launch an application that needed that database file on that network share. For some reason I could never get mount_afp to work nor could I get tell finder to activate application to work in conjunction with each other.

I ended up using apple script for the mounting and then shell commands for the app launching and it works. I have no idea why, maybe a lack in the API or something?

[fwpGreg]

I did this years ago for something, and just again needed to do it, but my notes were inadequate. After a lot of fiddling and trying everything in posts like this one I finally got it to work. I've written enough details out so that I'll never have to do that again (I hope).

So, yes, you can combine launchd and a script to have an automated mounting without a login, but there's some details that many other posts fail to mention -- like difference between mounting an AFP volume vs a share point. Also, what happens if the share point unmounts? The launchd/script should handle that.

All the nitty gritty details are here (way too much detail for a direct post):

http://www.gregwillits.ws/articles/u...t_upon_startup