Which Mechanism to Select for the gsscred Table

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.

files

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.

xfn_files

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.

xfn_nis

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.

xfn_nisplus

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.

xfn

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.