Name Services on the Netra Server

The Netra server provides three types of name services:

• Local name service - Translation is done locally (by looking up the name in a file)

• Network information service (NIS) - Translation is done by an NIS server (running either on the Netra server or on another host)

• Domain name service (DNS) - Translation is provided by a DNS server (running either on the Netra server or on another host)

The Netra server can use any or all of the name services at the same time. If you decide to use more than one name service, they are queried in the order specified in the /etc/nsswitch.conf file.

For example, suppose your Netra server is configured to use the local name service and DNS. When a name service query is made, the server attempts name resolution by looking up the host name in the local database first. If the host name is found, the server returns the host address. If not, the query is passed to the DNS server. If the DNS server resolves the query, it returns the information; otherwise, it returns the message "not found."