Working with Systemd Mount Units

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Working with Systemd Mount Units

Systemd automatically manages mounts for entries that are listed in systemd, and allows you to manually create mount units. In this hands-on lab, you will be tasked with creating systemd mount and automount units.

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Lab Info

Level

Intermediate

Last updated

Oct 08, 2025

Duration

30m

Challenge

Create a unit file for the data mount based on the information provided in the instructions and ensure that it is started and enabled.
1. Create a unit file in /etc/systemd/system named mnt-data.mount with the following contents:
```
[Unit]
Description=Data mount

[Mount]
What=/dev/disk/by-uuid/filesystem_UUID
Where=/mnt/data
Type=xfs
Options=defaults

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```
1. Update the systemd manager configuration to include a new unit file:
systemctl daemon-reload
1. Start and enable the mnt-data.mount unit:
systemctl enable mnt-data.mount --now
Challenge

Create a unit file for the backup mount based on the information provided in the instructions.
1. Create a unit file in /etc/systemd/system named mnt-backup.mount with the following contents:
```
[Unit]
Description=Backup mount

[Mount]
What=/dev/disk/by-uuid/filesystem_UUID
Where=/mnt/backup
Type=ext4
Options=ro

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```
1. Create a mountpoint for mnt-backup.mount at /mnt/backup:
mkdir /mnt/backup
1. Update the systemd manager configuration to include a new unit file:
systemctl daemon-reload
Challenge

Create an automount unit file for mnt-backup.mount based on the information provided in the instructions and ensure that it is started and enabled.
1. Create a unit file in /etc/systemd/system named mnt-backup.automount with the following contents:
```
[Unit]
Description=Automount backup directory

[Automount]
Where=/mnt/backup
TimeoutIdleSec=600

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```
1. Update the systemd manager configuration to include new unit file:
systemctl daemon-reload
1. Start and enable the mnt-backup.automount unit:
systemctl enable mnt-backup.automount --now

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