Name Service Information

The sadmind daemon uses information held by the name service. The three sources of information are:

• Files in the /etc directory such as passwd, group, and shadow, referred to as the keyword files

• The NIS name service referred to as the keyword nis

• The NIS+ name service referred to as the keyword nisplus

On each system, the /etc/nsswitch.conf file lists several administrative files, followed by a list of one or more keywords that represent the name services to be searched for information. If more than one keyword is listed, they are searched in the order given. For example, the entry

group:	files nisplus

indicates that the security mechanism looks first in the local /etc/group file for an entry. If the entry exists, the security mechanism uses the information in this entry. If the entry doesn't exist, the NIS+ group file is searched.

By default, systems running the Solaris 2.4 and higher OS release have an entry for group 14 in the local /etc/group file. If you want to set up your system to use network-wide information, do not add members to the sysadmin group on the local system. Instead, update the group14 entry found in the group table stored in the name service.

When running under Level 2 security, the security mechanisms use the public/private key information. Make sure that the entry for publickey is followed by either nis or nisplus (depending on which name service you are using), and remove the files designation. See NIS+ and FNS Administration Guide for more information about the nsswitch.conf file.