CompTIA Linux+ XK0-006 (V8) Practice Question

The correct approach is to create a dedicated systemd mount unit for the NFS share and then define this mount unit as a dependency for the webapp.service. A systemd .mount unit, named after its mount point (e.g., srv-data.mount), is the standard way to manage mount points. By adding Requires=srv-data.mount and After=srv-data.mount to the [Unit] section of the webapp.service file, systemd ensures that it will only start the web application service after it has successfully activated the srv-data.mount unit.

Using x-systemd.automount in /etc/fstab is a valid way to prevent boot delays by mounting the share on-demand, but it doesn't create an explicit start-order dependency for the service. The service could potentially start and fail before the on-demand mount is triggered and completed. Creating a separate .service unit to run the mount command is not the intended or most efficient method, as .mount units are specifically designed for this purpose. Using ExecStartPre in the service file to run the mount command is an imperative, not declarative, approach and is less robust for managing dependencies than using proper unit relationships.