/etc Files

/etc files are the traditional UNIX way of maintaining information about hosts, users, passwords, groups, and automount maps, to name just a few. These system configuration files are text files located on each individual system. They are described in Chapter 13, “Setting Up User Accounts”; Chapter 16, “System Security”; Chapter 22, “The NFS Environment”; and Chapter 24, “LP Print Service.”

Each file needs to be individually maintained; on a large network, this can be a difficult task. As IP addresses change and user accounts are added and deleted, it can become difficult to maintain all these files and keep them in sync between each system. On a large changing network, the traditional approach to maintaining this information had to change. Therefore, the following name services were introduced.