Solaris 11 Changes: Managing Name Services (formerly known as /etc/resolv.conf)

Oracle Solaris 11 is leaving the SVR4 file based system administration of Solaris 10 behind. It uses SMF to manage the configuration state of many services.

The /etc/nsswitch.conf configuration file became a read only file which reflects the current state of the SMF service. Changes in the name resolution now require the following thress steps

• Script the name vlaue pairs to be changed (strongly recommended)
• update the SMF properties with the command svccfg
• restart the name-service with the command svcadm

This can be done with a script like the one below:

#!/bin/ksh -p
me=${0##*/}
tmpfile=$(/usr/bin/mktemp -t ${me}.XXXXXX)
cat > $tmpfile <<EOF
setprop config/password = astring: ("files ldap")
setprop config/group =    astring: ("files ldap")
setprop config/host =     astring: ("files dns")
setprop config/network =  astring: files
setprop config/protocol = astring: files
setprop config/rpc =      astring: files
setprop config/ether =    astring:   files
setprop config/netmask =  astring:   files
setprop config/bootparam = astring:  files
setprop config/publickey = astring:  files
setprop config/netgroup =  astring:  ldap
setprop config/automount = astring:  ("files ldap")
setprop config/alias =     astring:  files
setprop config/service =   astring:  files
setprop config/printer = astring:    ("user files ldap")
setprop config/project = astring:    files
setprop config/auth_attr = astring:  files
setprop config/prof_attr = astring:  files
setprop config/tnrhtp = astring:     files
setprop config/tnrhdb = astring:     files
exit
EOF
svccfg -s svc:/system/name-service/switch -f $tmpfile || exit
rm $tmpfile
svcadm refresh svc:/system/name-service/switch:default

Will Fiveash from Oracle published this script in his blog.