Bind Mounts in Linux

Bind mounts in Linux® enable you to mount an already-mounted file system to another location within the file system. Generally, bind mounts are used when restricting the access of specified users to designated parts of a website by replicating the website's directory into a jailed user's home directory.

Configure a Bind Mount

This section provides steps for how to grant a user access to a directory by using bind mounting to bind the directory to that user's home directory.

Configure a bind mount by using the following command:

mount --bind /path/to/domain /path/to/home/directory

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Bind mounts are not persistent when you restart your server unless you create an entry for the bind mount in your server's File Systems Table (fstab).

Add a bind mount to the File Systems Table

Add an fstab entry for the bind mount by adding a line to /etc/fstab:

/path/to/domain /path/to/home/directory none bind,nobootwait 0 0

If the nobootwait option is not included in the fstab entry, you see the following message in the server console:

Continue to wait; or Press S to skip mounting or M for manual recovery. 

Adding nobootwait to the options section of the fstab configuration ensures that the system boots even if the bind mount directory has been removed from the system.