NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Configuring the Name Service Switch
Syntax of the nsswitch.conf File
Chapter 6272
Syntax of the nsswitch.conf File
Each line in the /etc/nsswitch.conf file has the following syntax:
lookup_type name_service [status=action status=action ...]
name_service ...
If you include any status=action pairs after a name service, the square
brackets are required.
lookup_type The type of information to be looked up. The supported
keywords and the information types they represent are
listed in Table 6-2. These keywords are case-sensitive.
name_service A name service to use for the type of information in the
lookup_type field. Supported keywords and the name
services they represent are listed in Table 6-3. These
keywords are case-sensitive.
status One of the following statuses returned by a name
service query. These values may be entered in
uppercase or lowercase.
SUCCESS The lookup was successful, and the
requested information was found.
NOTFOUND The name service returned a
response, but the requested data was
not in its database.
UNAVAIL The name service is not configured.
TRYAGAIN The name service was busy and the
request timed out. This value is
returned only by NIS+ and DNS.
action The action to take based on the status of the name
service query. The following values may be entered in
uppercase or lowercase.
continue Try the next name service in the list.
return End the lookup and return control to
the calling process without consulting
the next name service in the list.