User's Manual

What Is NetInfo?

NetInfo consolidates administrative information, simplifying the interactions between

processes and the administrative data they create and use.

Processes no longer need to be aware of how and where administrative data is stored.

NetInfo does that for them. If a process needs the home directory for a user, it simply

retrieves it from NetInfo. NetInfo ﬁnds the requested information, then returns it, insulating

the process from the details of how the information is stored. And when you take advantage

of NetInfo’s ability to store administrative data in several NetInfo databases, NetInfo

automatically consults them when needed.

Much of the data NetInfo stores is identical to data stored on earlier UNIX systems. The crypt

password, the home directory, the real name, short name, UID, GID—all stored in NetInfo

user records—have corresponding entries in the standard /etc/passwd ﬁle. However, much of

the data stored by NetInfo supports functions unique to Mac OS X, such as support for Apple

Filing Protocol (AFP) directories.

Data Distribution

Another characteristic of early storage strategies for administrative data is that the data was

stored

locally.

If you wanted to use a speciﬁc computer, your user account information had

to be stored on that computer. To conﬁgure a computer’s network settings, the administrator

needed to go to each computer and manually enter the IP address and all the other

information needed to identify the computer on the network.

NetInfo

Processes

NetInfo

Processes