NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Configuring the Name Service Switch
Installing and Customizing the nsswitch.conf File
Chapter 6270
Installing and Customizing the nsswitch.conf
File
The configuration file for the Name Service Switch is called
/etc/nsswitch.conf. If this file does not exist, the system has a default
Name Service Switch configuration, described in “Default Configuration”
on page 275, later in this chapter.
1. Copy the appropriate Name Service Switch configuration file to
/etc/nsswitch.conf.
Table 6-1 lists the Name Service Switch configuration files supplied
in the /etc directory and describes the purpose of each one.
If you plan to use BIND (DNS) for host information, step 2 in this
procedure explains how to add BIND to the Name Service Switch
configuration file.
2. If you chose a configuration file other than nsswitch.hp_defaults,
and you want to use BIND (DNS) for host name and IP address
lookups, change the hosts line to read as follows:
Table 6-1 Name Service Switch Configuration Files in /etc Directory
File Name Purpose
nsswitch.files
For hosts not configured as NIS or NIS+ clients. All types of
lookups consult files on the local host.
nsswitch.nis
For hosts configured as NIS clients. Some types of lookups
u
local files first and consult NIS if the local files do not contai
n
requested information. Other types of lookups consult NIS f
i
and look in local files only if NIS does not respond.
nsswitch.nisplus
For hosts configured as NIS+ clients. Some types of lookups
local files first and consult NIS+ if the local files do not cont
a
the requested information. Other types of lookups consult N
first and look in local files only if NIS+ does not respond.
nsswitch.hp_defaults
For hosts that used the HP-UX default Name Service Switc
h
configuration on earlier releases and will continue to use it
o
HP-UX 10.30. See “Default Configuration” on page 275.