After the DIT is created, you populate the information tree with data. The data is derived from all systems that contain /etc files. Therefore, you must perform this task on the systems rather than on the server. The manner of populating the information tree depends on the planning that was described in Planning the LDAP Data Population.
The information tree can be filled with the data from the following files:
aliases
auto_*
bootparams
ethers
group
hosts
Similarly, information from rights-related files in the /etc directory are also added to the information tree, such as user_attr, ~/security/auth_attr, ~/security/prof_attr, and ~/security/exec_attr.
To populate the information tree, you use the ldapaddent command and specify the /etc file or database whose data you are loading on the tree. You must load the files in the following sequence to obtain better performance:
passwd
shadow
networks
netmasks
bootparams
ethers
Ensure that when you are loading automounter information, the file or database name uses the naming format auto_*, such as auto_home.
Before populating the directory server with data, you must configure the server to store passwords in UNIX Crypt format if you are using the pam_unix_* modules. If you are using pam_ldap, you can store passwords in any format. For more information about setting the password in UNIX crypt format, see the ODSEE documentation.
For more information, see the ldapaddent(1M) man page. You must issue the command on every system that has the source /etc files with which you must populate the server.
Make sure that /etc files from different client systems are not merged into single files.
Populate the server with data from each file or database in /etc:
# ldapaddent -D "cn=directory manager" -f /etc/filename container
where container has the same name as filename, such as passwd.