How Name Services Affect Network Databases

The form of your network database depends on the type of name service you select for your network. For example, the hosts database contains, at minimum, the host name and IPv4 address of the local machine and any network interfaces that are directly connected to the local machine. However, the hosts database could contain other IPv4 addresses and host names, depending on the type of name service on your network.

The network databases are used as follows:

• Networks that use local files for their name service rely on files in the /etc/inet and /etc directories.

• NIS+ uses databases that are called NIS+ tables.

• NIS uses databases that are called NIS maps.

• DNS uses records with host information.

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Note –

DNS boot and data files do not correspond directly to the network databases.

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The following figure shows the forms of the hosts database that is used by these name services.

Figure 5–2 Forms of the hosts Database Used by Name Services

The following table lists the network databases and how they are used by local files, NIS+, and NIS.

Table 5–1 Network Databases and Corresponding Name Service Files

Network Database	Local Files	NIS+ Tables	NIS Maps
hosts	/etc/inet/hosts	hosts.org_dir	hosts.byaddr hosts.byname
ipnodes	/etc/inet/ipnodes	ipnodes.org_dir	ipnodes.byaddr ipnodes.byname
netmasks	/etc/inet/netmasks	netmasks.org_dir	netmasks.byaddr
ethers	/etc/ethers	ethers.org_dir	ethers.byname ethers.byaddr
bootparams	/etc/bootparams	bootparams.org_dir	bootparams
protocols	/etc/inet/protocols	protocols.org_dir	protocols.byname protocols.bynumber
services	/etc/inet/services	services.org_dir	services.byname
networks	/etc/inet/networks	networks.org_dir	networks.byaddr networks.byname

This book discusses network databases as viewed by networks that use local files for name services. Information about the hosts database is in hosts Database. Information about the ipnodes database is in /etc/inet/ipnodes File. Information about the netmasks database is in netmasks Database. Refer to System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP) and System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (FNS and NIS+) for information on network databases correspondences in NIS, NIS+, DNS, and LDAP.