Configuring Naming Contexts

The naming contexts created for NIS entries during the initialization of the NIS service are specified in the nis.mapping file by the keyword BASE_DN. This base DN is the concatenation of an organizational unit (ou) specific to each map, and of a rootTree token that is usually common to several maps.

For example, the naming context for the entries created from the networks maps is defined by the following two lines in the nis.mapping file:

rootTreeT=ou=Services,$NAMING_SUFFIX||ou=Services,$DC_NAMING
BASE_DN=ou=Networks,$rootTreeT

The directory entries created from the networks file are created under the ou=Networks, ou=Services naming context.

The choice of a naming structure through the NAMING_SUFFIX keyword or DC_NAMING keyword is a configuration decision. The DC_NAMING keyword contains a domain component (DC) suffix. The DNs of entries created with that naming structure have a suffix of the form dc=XYZ, dc=com. This is the default choice when you initialize the NIS service, because the import process derives A DC naming suffix from the domain name you supply during the dsypinstall process.

If you prefer to use a different suffix, you must un-comment the NAMING_SUFFIX keyword at the beginning of the nis.mapping file, under the Common section for the front-end. Change the value of the NAMING_SUFFIX keyword to specify the suffix, or naming context under which you want NIS entries to be created. The value you specify must be a valid naming context in the data store. Refer to "Creating or Modifying a Data Store" for information on creating a naming context.

Do not comment out the DOMAIN_NAME keyword in the nis.mapping file. This keyword contains the domain name that you supplied during the dsypinstall process. It is used by the server to provide the NIS service.