This is an original planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, an official standard, or legal advice. Example addresses use documentation ranges. Review every command before you paste it.
What this hour is for
fstab mounts a filesystem at boot. The generator drafts a line. The validator reads a line. Neither tool edits /etc/fstab. A wrong root line can stop the host from booting. The console is the way back, and you write that path down before any later edit.
Use a UUID. A /dev/sd name can move. nofail is a choice for a data disk the host can boot without. It is not a way to hide a missing root disk. The mount point is a directory you created, not a directory that already holds files you forgot.
Do not apply the line during the reading. 192.0.2.10/24 and example.com are documentation. They stay in the note.
The change you can finish
Apply nothing while you are writing the note. When the lab window opens, it is one change on the host named in the ticket. Read the draft, then the host, then decide.
Rollback is the file, the package version, or the snapshot you saved first. You do not invent a rollback after the only copy is gone.
- Identify the filesystem and copy the UUID into the note, later, from the host.
- Name the mount point.
- Draft the line.
- Validate it.
- Write the console path.
- Do not edit fstab during the reading.
Mistakes that outlive the command
Mounting Disks with fstab goes wrong in a small set of ways. The list is here so the ticket can forbid them before the window.
- A /dev/sd name in fstab.
- nofail on the root filesystem.
- A mount over a directory that already has files.
- The line applied during the reading.
- No console path.
Decisions to write down
One decision for Mounting Disks with fstab: The identifier is a UUID. The mount point is empty of forgotten files. nofail is only for a data disk. The console path is known. And fstab was not edited yet.
Checks before you call it done
Confirm this before you call the change done: The UUID is written. The mount point is written. The validator was used. No edit was made. And the console path is in the ticket. If one of those fails, stop.
# UUID, not /dev/sdX.
# Do not edit fstab during the reading.
# A bad root line needs a console.Before you leave the host
Mounting Disks with fstab ends when the hostname in the prompt matches the hostname in the ticket. If it does not, you are on the wrong host. Stop. A command that succeeded on the wrong host is not progress.
The draft stays a draft until a person has read the names in it. A generator does not log into the host and does not know which disk is empty. You delete a line that names a host, a path, or an account you did not write down.
192.0.2.10/24, gateway 192.0.2.1, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24, and 2001:db8::/32 are documentation. example.com is a documentation name. They belong in the note. They are not values you leave on a host because a draft included them.
prompt-for-this is a reminder that a secret is missing. It is not a password, a key, or a token you save in the ticket or in git. The real secret stays in the password store.
One change is the window. If two things move and the result is wrong, you will not know which one did it. The next change waits for its own page.
If the same step fails twice, stop for the day. The failure is the result. Adding a forum command beside a half-applied change produces a host nobody can rebuild. Restore the copy you took first.
A second person reads the hostname and the change aloud. If they cannot find them in the ticket, the note is not done. Silence is not agreement. Then leave the host alone.
This page is a planning guide. It is not a vendor manual, not an official standard, and not permission to touch a host you do not administer. You do not disable a firewall, AppArmor, or SELinux to make a check pass.
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