fstab Integration

FlexFS volumes can be mounted automatically at boot by adding entries to /etc/fstab. The mount.flexfs init fstab command generates the correct entry and optionally mounts the volume immediately.

Creating an fstab entry

sudo mount.flexfs init fstab my-volume /mnt/data

This appends a line to /etc/fstab:

my-volume  /mnt/data  flexfs  _netdev,nofail  0 0

The command also creates the mount point directory if it does not exist.

init fstab flags

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--credsFile	string	~/.flexfs/mount/creds/<name>	Path to the credentials file. Only written to fstab if it differs from the default.
--mountOptions	string	(empty)	Additional mount options to include (comma-separated)
--now	bool	false	Mount immediately after creating the fstab entry
--force	bool	false	Replace an existing fstab entry for the same mount point

Note

The init fstab command requires root privileges because it writes to /etc/fstab.

Examples

Mount with additional options:

sudo mount.flexfs init fstab my-volume /mnt/data \
  --mountOptions "ro,acl,verbose"

Produces:

my-volume  /mnt/data  flexfs  _netdev,nofail,ro,acl,verbose  0 0

Mount immediately and replace any existing entry:

sudo mount.flexfs init fstab my-volume /mnt/data --now --force

Use a non-default credentials file:

sudo mount.flexfs init fstab my-volume /mnt/data \
  --credsFile /etc/flexfs/my-volume-creds

Produces:

my-volume  /mnt/data  flexfs  credsFile=/etc/flexfs/my-volume-creds,_netdev,nofail  0 0

fstab entry format

A flexFS fstab entry uses the following fields:

<name>  <mount-point>  <type>  <options>  <dump>  <pass>

Field	Value	Description
name	Volume name	The flexFS volume name
mount-point	Absolute path	Where the filesystem will be mounted
type	flexfs	The filesystem type
options	Comma-separated	Mount options (see below)
dump	0	Not used by flexFS
pass	0	Not used by flexFS

Recommended options

• _netdev — Tells the system this is a network filesystem, ensuring network is available before mounting.
• nofail — Prevents boot failure if the mount cannot be completed (e.g., if the admin server is unreachable).

systemd directives

When using systemd, you can add additional directives to control mount behavior:

my-volume  /mnt/data  flexfs  _netdev,nofail,x-systemd.after=network-online.target  0 0

Common systemd directives:

Directive	Description
x-systemd.after=<unit>	Wait for the specified systemd unit before mounting
x-systemd.requires=<unit>	Require the specified systemd unit to be active
x-systemd.automount	Mount on first access rather than at boot
x-systemd.mount-timeout=<seconds>	Override the default mount timeout

Tip

Lifecycle directives (_netdev, nofail, x-systemd.*) are filtered out before being passed to the mount client. Only mount-relevant options (like ro, acl, verbose, credsFile) are forwarded.

Mounting from fstab

Once the fstab entry exists, mount the volume with:

sudo mount /mnt/data

Or mount all fstab entries:

sudo mount -a

At boot, systemd reads /etc/fstab and creates mount units automatically. The _netdev flag ensures flexFS mounts wait for network availability.

Removing an fstab entry

Use the deinit fstab subcommand to remove a flexFS entry from fstab and optionally unmount:

sudo mount.flexfs deinit fstab /mnt/data

Duplicate mount protection

When mount.flexfs start detects that it was invoked from an fstab-triggered mount (detected via environment), it silently exits if the volume is already mounted. This prevents errors during mount -a when the volume is already active.