Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP)

The behavior of the N2L service is controlled by the ypserv and NISLDAPmappingconfiguration files. A script, inityp2l, assists with the initial setup of theseconfiguration files. Once the N2L server has been established, you can maintain N2Lby directly editing the configuration files.The N2L service supports the following:■ Import of NIS maps into the LDAP Directory Information Tree (DIT)■ Client access to DIT information with the speed and extensibility of NISIn any naming system, only one source of information can be the authoritative source.In traditional NIS, NIS sources are the authoritative information. When using the N2Lservice, the source of authoritative data is the LDAP directory. The directory ismanaged by using directory management tools, as described in Chapter 9.NIS sources are retained for emergency backup or backout only. After using the N2Lservice, you can gradually phase out NIS clients. Eventually, all NIS clients can bereplaced by Solaris LDAP naming services clients.Additional overview information is provided in the following subsections:■ “NIS-to-LDAP Audience Assumptions” on page 228■ “When Not to Use the NIS-to-LDAP Service” on page 229■ “Effects of the NIS-to-LDAP Service on Users” on page 229■ “NIS-to-LDAP Transition Terminology” on page 230■ “NIS-to-LDAP Commands, Files, and Maps” on page 231■ “Supported Standard Mappings” on page 232NIS-to-LDAP Tools and the Service ManagementFacilityThe NIS and LDAP services are managed by the Service Management Facility.Administrative actions on these services, such as enabling, disabling, or restarting, canbe performed by using the svcadm command. You can query the status of services byusing the svcs command. For more information about using SMF with LDAP andNIS, see “LDAP and the Service Management Facility” on page 178 and “NIS and theService Management Facility” on page 80. For an overview of SMF, refer to “ManagingServices (Overview)” in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration. Also refer tothe svcadm(1M) and svcs(1) man pages for more details.NIS-to-LDAP Audience AssumptionsYou need to be familiar with NIS and LDAP concepts, terminology, and IDs toperform the procedures in this chapter. For more information about the NIS andLDAP naming services, see the following sections of this book.228 System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (DNS, NIS, and LDAP) • January 2005