Comment 1 for bug 1827286

Looks like the issue is symlinking to a director prior to autofs mounting it.

Everything fine...

root@numbersix:/# ssh chi uname -a
Linux chi 4.4.0-146-generic #172-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 3 09:00:08 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@chi:~# ls -la /home
ls: cannot access '/home': No such file or directory
root@chi:~#
root@numbersix:/# ssh chi 'ls -la /vol/*'
/vol/home:
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 154 Apr 21 19:10 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 2 2018 ..
drwxr-xr-x 1 2005 2005 1070 Nov 17 2015 bethann
        [trimmed]

/vol/media:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 128 Apr 13 18:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 2 2018 ..
        [trimmed]

/vol/zhora-temp:
total 24
dr-xr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Mar 3 08:21 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 2 2018 ..
        [trimmed]
root@numbersix:/#

Everything works fine if the link is made after...

root@chi:/# ln -s /vol/home
root@chi:/# ls -la /home
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 May 2 12:11 /home -> /vol/home
root@chi:/#
root@chi:/# ls -la /vol/*
/vol/home:
total 8
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 154 Apr 21 19:10 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 2 2018 ..
        [trimmed]

/vol/media:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 128 Apr 13 18:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 2 2018 ..
        [trimmed]

/vol/zhora-temp:
total 24
dr-xr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Mar 3 08:21 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 2 2018 ..
        [trimmed]
root@chi:/#

It breaks after the reboot...

root@chi:/# init 6
Connection to chi closed by remote host.
Connection to chi closed.
root@numbersix:~# root@chi:/# init 6
Connection to chi closed by remote host.
Connection to chi closed.
root@numbersix:~#

root@numbersix:~#
root@numbersix:~# ssh chi
Welcome to Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS (GNU/Linux 4.4.0-146-generic x86_64)

 * Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com
 * Management: https://landscape.canonical.com
 * Support: https://ubuntu.com/advantage

21 packages can be updated.
15 updates are security updates.

New release '18.04.2 LTS' available.
Run 'do-release-upgrade' to upgrade to it.

root@chi:~# ls -la /vol/*
ls: cannot open directory '/vol/home': Too many levels of symbolic links
/vol/media:
total 4
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 128 Apr 13 18:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 2 2018 ..
        [trimmed]

/vol/zhora-temp:
total 24
dr-xr-xr-x 6 root root 4096 Mar 3 08:21 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Jul 2 2018 ..
        [trimmed]
root@chi:~#

At this point, the link needs to be deleted and the VM rebooted to get back to a normal state - just restarting autofs won't clear it.