The Oracle Solaris platform provides the following naming services:
Domain Name System (DNS) (see Description of the DNS Naming Service)
/etc files, the original UNIX naming system (see Description of the /etc Files Naming Service)
Network Information Service (NIS) (see Description of the NIS Naming Service)
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) (see Working With Oracle Solaris 11.2 Directory and Naming Services: LDAP )
Most modern networks use two or more of these services in combination. The name service switch coordinates the naming service that is used for a particular lookup. See Chapter 2, About the Name Service Switch for more information.