NIS+ mail_aliases Table (System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services)

System Administration Guide: Resource Management and Network Services

NIS+ `mail_aliases` Table

The NIS+ mail_aliases table contains the names by which a system or person is known in the local domain. The sendmail program can use the NIS+ mail_aliases table, instead of the local /etc/mail/aliases files, to determine mailing addresses. Refer to the aliasadm(1M) and nsswitch.conf(4) man pages for more information.

Aliases in the NIS+ mail_aliases table adhere to the following format:

alias: expansion # ["options	" # "comments"]

Table 26-12 describes the four columns that are in an NIS+ mail_aliases table.

Table 26-12 Columns in the NIS+ mail_aliases Table


Column	Description
`alias`	The name of the alias
`expansion`	The value of the alias or a list of aliases as it would appear in a `sendmail` `/etc/mail/aliases` file
`options`	The column that is reserved for future use
`comments`	The column for comments about an individual alias

The NIS+ mail_aliases table should contain entries for all mail clients. You can list, create, modify, and delete entries in the NIS+ aliases table with the aliasadm command. To use the aliasadm command, you must be a member of the NIS+ group that owns the aliases table. For task information, refer to "How to Manage Alias Entries in an NIS+ mail_aliases Table" in Chapter 25, Mail Services (Tasks). Alternately, you can use the AdminTool's Database Manager to administer the NIS+ mail aliases.

Note -

If you are creating a new NIS+ aliases table, you must initialize the table before you create the entries. If the table exists, no initialization is needed.