System Administration Guide: IP Services

Changes to the nsswitch.conf File

For Solaris 10 11/06 and previous releases, in addition to the capability of looking up IPv6 addresses through /etc/inet/ipnodes, IPv6 support has been added to the NIS, LDAP, and DNS name services. Consequently, the nsswitch.conf file has been modified to support IPv6 lookups.


hosts:  files dns nisplus [NOTFOUND=return]
ipnodes: files dns nisplus [NOTFOUND=return]

Note –

Before changing the /etc/nsswitch.conf file to search ipnodes in multiple name services, populate these ipnodes databases with IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Otherwise, unnecessary delays can result in the resolution of host addresses, including possible boot-timing delays.


The following diagram shows the new relationship between the nsswitch.conf file and the new name services databases for applications that use the gethostbyname and getipnodebyname commands. Items in italics are new. The gethostbyname command checks only for IPv4 addresses that are stored in /etc/inet/hosts. In Solaris 10 11/06 and previous releases, the getipnodebyname command consults the database that is specified in the ipnodes entry in the nsswitch.conf file. If the lookup fails, then the command checks the database that is specified in the hosts entry in the nsswitch.conf file.

Figure 11–8 Relationship Between nsswitch.conf and Name Services

Diagram shows the relationship between NIS,
NIS+, Files, and DNS database and the nsswitch.conf file.

For more information on name services, see System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP).