Choosing the correct mechanism for the gsscred table depends on several factors.
Are you interested in improving the lookup time?
Are you interested in increasing data access security?
Do you need to build the file quickly?
This is a list of all of the back-end mechanisms that can be selected along with a description of advantages of the mechanism.
The gsscred table is stored on a file system. A local file system that is not shared provides the most secure back-end, since no transmissions are done over the net after the table is created. This version of the file builds the quickest.
The gsscred table is stored within the /var/fn file system. This file system can be shared or not. All xfn files take a long time to build.
The gsscred table is stored within the NIS namespace. The lookups in this file system are not secure. All xfn files take a long time to build.
The gsscred table is stored within the NIS+ namespace. The lookups in this file system are not secure. All xfn files take a long time to build.
The gsscred table is stored within the default system for xfn. All xfn files take a long time to build.
For the files back-end mechanism, the initial lookup can be slow. For the other mechanisms, the initial lookup can be faster using a name service. For all of the mechanisms, after the data is cached the retrieval time should be about the same.