NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Configuring the Name Service Switch
Default Configuration
Chapter 6 275
Default Configuration
If the /etc/nsswitch.conf file does not exist, or if the line for a
particular type of information is absent or syntactically incorrect, the
following default configuration is used.
passwd: files nis
group: files nis
hosts: dns [NOTFOUND=return] nis [NOTFOUND=return] files
networks: nis [NOTFOUND=return] files
protocols: nis [NOTFOUND=return] files
rpc: nis [NOTFOUND=return] files
publickey: nis [NOTFOUND=return] files
netgroup: nis [NOTFOUND=return] files
automount: files nis
aliases: files nis
services: nis [NOTFOUND=return] files
If your /etc/nsswitch.conf file contains a syntactically correct line for
a particular type of information, that line is used instead of the default.
If you specify a name service for a particular type of information, but you
do not specify four status=action pairs after the name service, the
following default status=action pairs are used for any statuses you did
not specify:
SUCCESS=return
NOTFOUND=continue
UNAVAIL=continue
TRYAGAIN=continue
So, for example, in the default configuration for passwd, the local
/etc/passwd file will be consulted first, and if the query returns
anything but SUCCESS, the NIS passwd map will be consulted.
The default Name Service Switch behavior on HP-UX changed at release
10.30. The file /etc/nsswitch.hp_defaults gives the default Name
Service Switch behavior for HP-UX prior to release 10.30. If you want
your host to keep the same Name Service Switch behavior when you
upgrade to release 10.30, copy /etc/nsswitch.hp_defaults to
/etc/nsswitch.conf. Following is the old default Name Service Switch
for HP-UX prior to release 10.30.