NAME

systems − NIS systems file

SYNOPSIS

/etc/systems

AVAILABILITY

Available only on Sun 386i systems running a SunOS 4.0.x release or earlier.  Not a SunOS 4.1 release feature. 

DESCRIPTION

The /etc/systems file is used only by SNAP and Automatic System Installation, and contains basic information about each host on the network.  It is an ASCII file in the /etc directory on the Network Information Service (NIS) master server.  To successfully administer all systems in a NIS domain using SNAP, there must be an entry in this file for each host listed in the /etc/hosts file.  For each host, this file contains a one-line entry, of the following form, where each field must be separated by a TAB character:

system  architecture  sunos  "hostid"  memory_size  disk_size  network_role

system is the name of a host, whether it is on a network or a standalone system.  This field contains only lowercase and numeric characters, must start with a lower-case character, and must not be longer than 32 characters. 

architecture
indicates the architecture of the specified system. This can be s386, sun4, sun3, sun2, sun1, pcnfs, or other. 

sunos indicates the SunOS operating system version the system is running.  Typically, the form is sunosversion_number or ­unknown.  SNAP always inserts ­unknown when adding new systems. 

hostid the system host ID, as obtained from /bin/hostid.  This entry must be in quotes.  If the host ID is ­unknown, an empty string ("") is specified.  SNAP always inserts an empty string when adding new systems. 

memory_size
amount of memory, in kilobytes. This can be 8000 (for 8 megabytes), 4000 (for 4 megabytes), or −1 for ­unknown.  SNAP always inserts −1 when adding new systems. 

disk_size
amount of disk space, in kilobytes. This can be any value, but typically should be close to the actual disk size or to the total amount of disk space, if expansion disks were added. Diskless clients would have a zero value, while ­unknown disk sizes are specified by a −1 value.  SNAP always inserts −1 when adding new network clients. 

network_role
indicates the role the system plays on the network. This can be master_bootserver, slave_bootserver, network_client, or diskless_client. 

EXAMPLES

Here is a sample systems file:

FILES

/etc/systems

/etc/hosts

/bin/hostid

SEE ALSO

snap(1), vipw(8)

System and Network Administration,
Sun386i Advanced Administration

NOTES

Take precautions to lock the /etc/systems file against simultaneous changes if it will be edited with a text editor; editing with vipw(8) provides the necessary locking. 

The Network Information Service (NIS) was formerly known as Sun Yellow Pages (YP).  The functionality of the two remains the same; only the name has changed.  The name Yellow Pages is a registered trademark in the United Kingdom of British Telecommunications plc, and may not be used without permission. 

Sun Release 4.1  —  Last change: 25 September 1989