NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Configuring the Name Service Switch
Chapter 6 269
NIS and NIS+ allow you to configure a server-side hostname
fallback, which causes the NIS or NIS+ server to query BIND when it
fails to find requested host information in its database. The NIS or NIS+
server then returns the host information to the client through NIS or
NIS+. An NIS+ server must run in NIS compatibility mode to support
server-side hostname fallback. This server-side hostname fallback is
intended for use with clients like PCs that do not have a feature like the
Name Service Switch. Hewlett-Packard recommends that you use the
Name Service Switch if possible, instead of server-side hostname
fallback. For more information on the NIS server-side hostname fallback,
see “To Query BIND for Host Information After Querying NIS” on
page 170. For information on NIS+ server-side hostname fallback, see
“To Configure an NIS+ Server to Return BIND Information to Clients”
on page 229.
This chapter tells you how to configure the Name Service Switch. It
contains the following sections:
• Installing and Customizing the nsswitch.conf File
• Syntax of the nsswitch.conf File
• Default Configuration
• Troubleshooting the Name Service Switch
NOTE Configuring the Name Service Switch is a separate task from configuring
the name services themselves. You must also configure the name services
before you can use them. The Name Service Switch just determines
which name services are queried and in what order.