The NSS Configuration File
==========================
Somehow the NSS code must be told about the wishes of the user. For
this reason there is the file `/etc/nsswitch.conf'. For each database
this file contain a specification how the lookup process should work.
The file could look like this:
# /etc/nsswitch.conf
#
# Name Service Switch configuration file.
#
passwd: db files nis
shadow: files
group: db files nis
hosts: files nisplus nis dns
networks: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] files
ethers: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] db files
protocols: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] db files
rpc: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] db files
services: nisplus [NOTFOUND=return] db files
The first column is the database as you can guess from the table
above. The rest of the line specifies how the lookup process works.
Please note that you specify the way it works for each database
individually. This cannot be done with the old way of a monolithic
implementation.
The configuration specification for each database can contain two
different items:
* the service specification like `files', `db', or `nis'.
* the reaction on lookup result like `[NOTFOUND=return]'.