question about nsswitch.conf

[beeloo]

Hi,

I was told to add the "nis" in front of "files" for below lines in /etc/nsswitch.conf was not in a good practise. I tried to search in google and man page for nsswitch.conf and can't find the answer. could someone please help me?

passwd: nis files
shadow: nis files
group: nis files
hosts: nis files

Thanks

[rcgreen]

Unless you are running Solaris, and use the NIS
name service, yes, it shouldn't be first.

/etc/nsswitch.conf -- Name Service Switch File

The /etc/nsswitch.conf file

hosts:files dns

is probably the usual default. That means, when your system
wants to look up a name, it checks the /etc/hosts file
first, then the configured name server.

[beeloo]

Thanks. Could you pls let me know the reason why it is not a good idea? Thanks a lot!!

[rcgreen]

My guess is that it would slow down your name lookups
as it would check NIS, which isn't available, and fail at that
before consulting /etc/hosts or DNS