The name-service/switch SMF Service

The name-service/switch SMF service defines the search order of the network databases for configuration information. Some of the network configuration information that previously were stored in configuration files, such as the default domain, have been converted to become properties of this SMF service. The properties of this SMF service determines the implementation of the name services on the system. The properties are listed as follows:

% svccfg -s name-service/switch listprop config
config                      application
config/value_authorization  astring             solaris.smf.value.name-service.switch
config/default              astring             files
config/password             astring             "files nis"
config/group                astring             "files nis"
config/host                 astring             "files dns nis"
config/network              astring             "nis [NOTFOUND=return] files"
config/protocol             astring             "nis [NOTFOUND=return] files"
config/rpc                  astring             "nis [NOTFOUND=return] files"
config/ether                astring             "nis [NOTFOUND=return] files"
config/netmask              astring             "files nis"
config/bootparam            astring             "nis [NOTFOUND=return] files"
config/publickey            astring             "nis [NOTFOUND=return] files"
config/netgroup             astring             nis
config/automount            astring             "files nis"
config/alias                astring             "files nis"
config/service              astring             "files nis"
config/printer              astring             "user nis"
config/auth_attr            astring             "files nis"
config/prof_attr            astring             "files nis"
config/project              astring             "files nis"

The values that are set for each of the properties determine which name service to search for information that would affect network users, such as passwords, aliases, or network masks. In the example, the automount and password properties are set to files and nis. Thus, automount information and password information are obtained from files and from the NIS service.

If you want to change from one name service to another name service, you must set the appropriate properties of the name-service/switch SMF service to enable the selected name service.

For example, suppose that you want to use LDAP naming service on your network. The following properties of the SMF service need to be configured;

• config/default needs to be set to use files and LDAP.

• config/host needs to be set to use files and DNS.

• config/netgroup needs to be set to use LDAP.

• config/printer needs to be set to use user, files and LDAP.

Therefore, you need to type the following commands to set these properties correctly.

# svccfg -s name-service/switch setprop config/default = astring: '"files ldap"'
# svccfg -s name-service/switch setprop config/host = astring: '"files dns"'
# svccfg -s name-service/switch setprop config/netgroup = astring: '"ldap"'
# svccfg -s name-service/switch setprop config/printer = astring: '"user files ldap"'
# svccfg -s name-service/switch:default refresh

For complete details on the name service switch, refer to Working With Naming and Directory Services in Oracle Solaris 11.1.

How Name Services Affect Network Databases

The format of your network database depends on the type of name service you select for your network. For example, the hosts database contains, at least the host name and IPv4 address of the local system and any network interfaces that are directly connected to the local system. 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 maps.

• DNS uses records with host information.

Refer to Working With Naming and Directory Services in Oracle Solaris 11.1 for information on network databases correspondences in NIS, DNS, and LDAP.