Administering NIS+ Tables

This chapter describes NIS+ tables and how to administer them. (See Table 10-1, for detailed descriptions of the default NIS+ tables.)

Note - NIS+ might not be supported in a future release. Tools to aid the migration from NIS+ to LDAP are available in the Solaris 9 operating environment (see Part V). For more information, visit http://www.sun.com/directory/nisplus/transition.html.

NIS+ Tables

Information used by NIS+ is stored in NIS+ tables. (See Chapter 23, Information in NIS+ Tables for a description of each default NIS+ system tables supplied in Solaris operating environment.)

For a complete description of NIS+ table-related commands and their syntax and options, see the NIS+ man pages.

The nistbladm Command

Note - Some NIS+ table administration tasks can be performed more easily with Solstice AdminSuite™ tools if you have them available.

The nistbladm command is the primary NIS+ table administration command. The nistbladm command is for use on NIS+ tables stored in an NIS+ directory object. With it, you can create, modify, and delete NIS+ tables and entries. To create a table, its directory must already exist. To add entries to the table, the table and columns must already be defined.

To create a table, you must have create rights to the directory under which you will create it. To delete a table, you must have destroy rights to the directory. To modify the contents of a table, whether to add, change, or delete entries, you must have modify rights to the table or the entries.

nistbladm Syntax Summary

The general syntax of the nistbladm command is:

nistbladm options \
 [columspec | columnvalue] \
 [tablename | indexedname]

Where:

• columnspec is a specification defining a column to be created in a table as described in "Specifying Table Columns".

• columnvalue identifies a particular cell value in the table identified by tablename as described in "nistbladm and Column Values".

• tablename is the name of the table. For example, hosts.org_dir.doc.com.

• indexedname identifies a particular cell value in a certain table as described in "nistbladm and Column Values". In essence indexedname is the equivalent of columnvalue plus tablename.

Table 19-1 nistbladm Options

nistbladm and Column Values

Column values are used to identify individual entries in tables using the format:

columname="value", \
 columnname="value", ...

Where:

• columname is the name of a table column.

• value is the contents of a particular cell within a column. That value is what identifies a table row. (When using column=value to create or modify table data, always enclose the value element in quotes.)

For example, suppose you had a hosts table that listed machine names and IP addresses:

Table 19-2 Example Hosts Table

mail

In this example, your could identify the altair entry (row) in three different ways using the column=value of:

• name=altair

• address=129.146.168.4

• name=altair,address=129.146.168.4.

But notice in the table above that the machine regulus is multi-homed and has two IP addresses. In that case, the column=value of host=regulus identifies two rows. To identify just the first regulus row, you would enter either:

• address=129.146.168.120 or

• address=129.146.168.120.,name=regulus,dnsmaster

Note - Some nistbladm operations require that you enter a column=value pair for every column in the table.

nistbladm, Searchable Columns, Keys, and Column Values

When an NIS+ table is created, one or more columns are designated searchable with either the S or the I flags as described in "Specifying Table Columns". You can use the niscat -o tablename command to display a list of a table's columns and their characteristics.

A table is keyed on its searchable columns. This means that each row in the table must have a unique combination of values in the searchable columns. For example, if a table has one searchable column, each table row must have a unique value in that column, no two rows can contain the same value.

For example, suppose you had a table containing one searchable column named city and a non-searchable column named country. The following rows would all be permitted:

But you could not have two rows like:

If a table has multiple searchable columns, it is the combination of values that must be unique. For example, suppose you had a table containing two searchable columns, Lastname, Firstname and a non-searchable column named city. The following rows would all be permitted:

But you could not have two rows like this:

NIS+ commands use the values in the searchable columns to identify specific table rows.