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libbind_irs.conf

BSD mandoc
BIND 8.1

NAME

irs.conf - Information Retrieval System configuration file

SYNOPSIS

irs.conf

DESCRIPTION

The irs(3) functions are a set of routines in the C library which provide access to various system maps. The maps that irs currently controls are the following: passwd, group, services, protocols, hosts, networks and netgroup. When a program first calls a function that accesses one of these maps, the irs configuration file is read, and the source of each map is determined for the life of the process.

If this file does not exist, the irs routines default to using local sources for all information, with the exception of the host and networks maps, which use the Domain Name System (DNS).

Each record in the file consists of one line. A record consists of a map-name, an access-method and possibly a (comma delimited) set of options, separated by tabs or spaces. Blank lines, and text between a # and a newline are ignored.

Available maps:

 Map name        Information in map
 =========       ==================================
 passwd          User authentication information
 group           User group membership information
 services        Network services directory
 protocols       Network protocols directory
 hosts           Network hosts directory
 networks        Network "network names" directory
 netgroup        Network "host groups" directory
 

Available access methods:

 Access method   Description
 =============   =================================================
 local           Use a local file, usually in /etc
 dns             Use the domain name service (includes hesiod)
 nis             Use the Sun-compatible Network Information Service
 irp             Use the IRP daemon on the localhost.
 

Available options:

 Option          Description
 ========        ================================================
 continue        don't stop searching if you can't find something
 merge           don't stop searching if you CAN find something
 

The continue option creates ``union namespaces'' whereby subsequent access methods of the same map type can be tried if a name cannot be found using earlier access methods. This can be quite confusing in the case of host names, since the name to address and address to name mappings can be visibly asymmetric even though the data used by any given access method is entirely consistent. This behavior is, therefore, not the default.

The merge option only affects lookups in the groups map. If set, subsequent access methods will be tried in order to cause local users to appear in NIS (or other remote) groups in addition to the local groups.

EXAMPLE

 # Get password entries from local file, or failing that, NIS
 passwd          local   continue
 passwd          nis
 
 # Build group membership from both local file, and NIS.
 group           local   continue,merge
 group           nis
 
 # Services comes from just the local file.
 services        local
 
 protocols       local
 
 # Hosts comes first from DNS, failing that, the local file
 hosts           dns     continue
 hosts           local
 
 # Networks comes first from the local file, and failing 
 # that the, irp daemon
 networks        local   continue
 networks        irp
 
 netgroup        local
 

NOTES

If a local user needs to be in the local host's ``wheel'' group but not in every host's ``wheel'' group, put them in the local host's /etc/group ``wheel'' entry and set up the ``groups'' portion of your /etc/irs.conf file as:

 group   local   continue,merge
 group   nis
 

NIS takes a long time to time out. Especially for hosts if you use the -d option to your server's ``ypserv'' daemon.

It is important that the irs.conf file contain an entry for each map. If a map is not mentioned in the irs.conf file, all queries to that map will fail.

The classic NIS mechanism for specifying union namespaces is to add an entry to a local map file whose name is ``+''. In IRS, this is done via ``continue'' and/or ``merge'' map options. While this results in a small incompatibility when local map files are imported from non-IRS systems to IRS systems, there are compensating advantages in security and configurability.

FILES

/etc/irs.conf

The file irs.conf resides in /etc

SEE ALSO

groups(5), hosts(5), netgroup(5), networks(5), passwd(5), protocols(5), services(5)