NsSwitch.Conf

The Name Service Switch configuration file (or nsswitch.conf(5)), typically found at /etc/nsswitch.conf, declares how domain names should be translated into IP addresses.

Example

group            compat
group_compat     nis
hosts            files dns
networks         files
passwd           compat
passwd_compat    nis
shells           files
services         compat
services_compat  nis
rpc              files
proto            files
netgroup         files

Syntax

Databases

The first column (delimited by spaces) indicates a database, while every subsequent column is a source or criteria.

Criteria

Criteria are structured as [STATUS=ACTION] or [!STATUS=ACTION].

A status can be any of...

• success meaning 'no error'.

• notfound meaning 'error in lookup'.

• unavail indicates a connection couldn't be made.

• tryagain indicates 'temporarily unavailability', as with locked connections.

An action is one of...

• return meaning 'return the result'

• continue meaning 'try the next item'

The implicit default is that a source only results in a return action given a success status. Anything else will result in a continue.

CategoryRicottone