Operation Manual

can only be used as an extension for
hosts and networks
dns
can only be used as an extension for
passwd, shadow and group
compat
13.6.1.10 /etc/nscd.conf
This le is used to congure nscd (name service cache daemon). See the nscd(8)
and nscd.conf(5) man pages. By default, the system entries of passwd and
groups are cached by nscd. This is important for the performance of directory services,
like NIS and LDAP, because otherwise the network connection needs to be used for
every access to names or groups. hosts is not cached by default, because the mecha-
nism in nscd to cache hosts makes the local system unable to trust forward and reverse
lookup checks. Instead of asking nscd to cache names, set up a caching DNS server.
If the caching for passwd is activated, it usually takes about fteen seconds until a
newly added local user is recognized. Reduce this waiting time by restarting nscd with
the command rcnscd restart.
13.6.1.11 /etc/HOSTNAME
This contains the fully qualied hostname with the domain name attached. This le is
read by several scripts while the machine is booting. It must contain only one line (in
which the hostname is set).
13.6.2 Testing the Conguration
Before you write your conguration to the conguration les, you can test it. To set
up a test conguration, use the ip command. To test the connection, use the ping
command. Older conguration tools, ifconfig and route, are also available.
The commands ip, ifconfig and route change the network conguration directly
without saving it in the conguration le. Unless you enter your conguration in the
correct conguration les, the changed network conguration is lost on reboot.
274 Reference