NAME

nscd − name service cache daemon

SYNOPSIS

/usr/sbin/nscd [ −f configuration-file ] [ −g ] [ −e cachename, yes|no ] [ −i cachename ]

AVAILABILITY

SUNWcsu

DESCRIPTION

nscd is a process that provides a cache for the most common name service requests.  It is started up during multi-user boot.  The default configuration-file /etc/nscd.conf determines the behavior of the cache daemon.  See nscd.conf(4). 

nscd provides cacheing for the passwd(4), group(4) and hosts(4) databases through standard libc interfaces, such as gethostbyname(3N), gethostbyaddr(3N), and others.  Each cache has a separate time-to-live for its data; modifying the local database (/etc/hosts, and so forth) causes that cache to become invalidated within ten seconds.  Note that the shadow file is specifically not cached.  getspnam(3C) calls remain uncached as a result. 

nscd also acts as its own administration tool. If an instance of nscd is already running, commands are passed to the running version transparently. 

In order to preserve NIS+ security, the startup script for nscd (/etc/init.d/nscd) checks the permissions on the passwd, group and host tables if NIS+ is being used.  If those tables are not readable by unauthenticated users, then caching is disabled so that each process continues to authenticate itself as before. 

nscd does not rescan the /etc/nsswitch.conf file; if this file is changed, the machine should be rebooted or nscd stopped and restarted, as shown in the EXAMPLES below. 

OPTIONS

Several of the options described below require a cachename specification.  Supported values are passwd, group and hosts. 

-f configuration-file
Causes nscd to read its configuration data from the specified file. 

-g Prints current configuration and statistics to standard output.  This is the only option executable by non-root users. 

-e cachename, yes|no
Enables or disables the specified cache.

-i cachename
Invalidate the specified cache.

EXAMPLES

Stopping and restarting the nscd daemon. 

example# /etc/init.d/nscd stop
example# /etc/init.d/nscd start

FILES

/etc/nscd.confdetermines behavior of cache daemon

SEE ALSO

gethostbyname(3N), group(4), hosts(4), nscd.conf(4), nsswitch.conf(4), passwd(4)

WARNINGS

The nscd interface is included in this release on an uncommitted basis only, and is subject to change or removal in a future minor release. 

SunOS 5.5  —  Last change: 12 Apr 1995