Chapter 12. Naming Services

Objectives

The following test objectives for exam 310-202 are covered in this chapter:

Explain naming services (DNS, NIS, NIS+, and LDAP) and the naming service switch file (database sources, status codes, and actions).

The name services in Solaris help to centralize the shared information on your network. This chapter describes the name services available in Solaris 10 so that you can identify the appropriate name service to use for your network. The name service switch file /etc/nsswitch.conf is used to direct requests to the correct name service in use on the system or network. This chapter describes how to select and configure the correct file for use with the available naming services.

Configure, stop and start the Name Service Cache Daemon (nscd) and retrieve naming service information using the getent command.

This chapter describes the use of the Name Service Cache Daemon (nscd), which speeds up queries of the most common data and the getent command to retrieve naming service information from specified databases.

Configure name service clients during install, configure the DNS client, and set up the LDAP client (client authentication, client profiles, proxy accounts, and LDAP configurations) after installation.

This chapter describes how to configure a DNS client and an LDAP client. It assumes, however, that a DNS server and an LDAP server have already been configured elsewhere.

Explain NIS and NIS security including NIS namespace information, domains, processes, securenets, and password.adjunct.

The NIS name service is covered along with what a domain is and which processes run to manage the domain from a master server, slave server, and client perspective. This chapter also discusses NIS security.

Configure the NIS domain: Build and update NIS maps, manage the NIS master and slave server, configure the NIS client, and troubleshoot NIS for server and client failure messages.

This chapter describes how to configure and manage an NIS domain, including setting up an NIS master server, an NIS slave server, and an NIS client. NIS provides a number of default maps, which will also be examined, along with the failure messages that can be encountered both on a server and a client.