Information in NIS+ Tables

This chapter summarizes the information stored in the default NIS+ tables supplied in the Solaris operating environment, as is also documented in the cooresponding manpages.

• "auto_home Table"

• "auto_master Table"

• "bootparams Table"

• "client_info Table"

• "ethers Table"

• "group Table"

• "hosts Table"

• "mail_aliases Table"

• "netgroup Table"

• "netmasks Table"

• "networks Table"

• "passwd Table"

• "protocols Table"

• "rpc Table"

• "services Table"

• "timezone Table"

Note - NIS+ might not be supported in a future release. Tools to aid the migration from NIS+ to LDAP are available in the Solaris 9 operating environment. (See Part V.) For more information, visit http://www.sun.com/directory/nisplus/transition.html.

NIS+ Tables

In an NIS+ environment, most namespace information is stored in NIS+ tables.

Without a name service, most network information would be stored in /etc files and almost all NIS+ tables have corresponding /etc files. With the NIS service, you stored network information in NIS maps that also mostly corresponded with /etc files.

Note - This chapter describes only those that are distributed as part of NIS+. Users and application developers frequently create NIS+ compatible tables for their own purposes. For information about tables created by users and developers, you must consult the documentation that they provide.

All NIS+ tables are stored in the domain's org_dir NIS+ directory object except the admin and groups tables that are stored in the groups_dir directory object.

Note - Do not link table entries. Tables can be linked to other tables, but do not link an entry in one table to an entry in another table.

NIS+ Tables and Other Name Services

In the Solaris environment the name service switch file (nsswitch.conf) allows you to specify one or more sources for different types of namespace information. In addition to NIS+ tables, sources can be NIS maps, DNS zone files, or /etc tables. The order in which you specify them in the switch file determines how the information from different sources is combined. (See Chapter 1, The Name Service Switch for more information on the switch file.)

NIS+ Table Input File Format

If you are creating input files for any of these tables, most tables share two formatting requirements:

• You must use one line per entry

• You must separate columns with one or more spaces or Tabs.

If a particular table has different or additional format requirements, they are described under the heading, "Input File Format."

auto_home Table

The auto_home table is an indirect automounter map that enables an NIS+ client to mount the home directory of any user in the domain. It does this by specifying a mount point for each user's home directory, the location of each home directory, and mount options, if any. Because it is an indirect map, the first part of the mount point is specified in the auto_master table, which is, by default, /home. The second part of the mount point (that is, the subdirectory under /home) is specified by the entries in the auto_home map, and is different for each user.

The auto_home table has two columns:

Table 23-1 auto_home Table

For example:

costas barcelona:/export/partition2/costas

The home directory of the user costas, which is located on the server barcelona, in the directory /export/partition2/costas, would be mounted under a client's /home/costas directory. No mount options were provided in the entry.

auto_master Table

The auto_master table lists all the automounter maps in a domain. For direct maps, the auto_master table provides a map name. For indirect maps, it provides both a map name and the top directory of its mount point. The auto_master table has two columns:

Table 23-2 auto_master Table

For example, assume these entries in the auto_master table:

/home auto_home
 /-auto_man
 /programs auto_programs

The first entry names the auto_home map. It specifies the top directory of the mount point for all entries in the auto_home map: /home. (The auto_home map is an indirect map.) The second entry names the auto_man map. Because that map is a direct map, the entry provides only the map name. The auto_man map will itself provide the topmost directory, as well as the full path name, of the mount points for each of its entries. The third entry names the auto_programs map and, since it provides the top directory of the mount point, the auto_programs map is an indirect map.

All automounter maps are stored as NIS+ tables. By default, the Solaris environment provides the auto_master map, which is mandatory, and the auto_home map, which is a great convenience.

You can create more automounter maps for a domain, but be sure to store them as NIS+ tables and list them in the auto_master table. When creating additional automount maps to supplement auto_master (which is created for you), the column names must be key and value. For more information about the automounter consult your automounter or NFS file system documentation.