ref: e55cb65c247a9cdfa0528d34dec70d435898d098
dir: /sys/man/6/ndb/
.TH NDB 6 .SH NAME ndb \- Network database .SH DESCRIPTION .PP The network database consists of files describing machines known to the local installation and machines known publicly. The files comprise multi-line tuples made up of attribute/value pairs of the form .IB attr = value or sometimes just .IR attr . Each line starting without white space starts a new tuple. Lines starting with .B # are comments. A .I value containing white spaces or .B # characters must be quoted using " double quotes. .PP The file .B /lib/ndb/local is the root of the database. Other files are included in the database if a tuple with an attribute-value pair of attribute .B database and no value exists in .BR /lib/ndb/local . Within the .B database tuple, each pair with attribute .B file identifies a file to be included in the database. The files are searched in the order they appear. For example: .IP .EX database= file=/lib/ndb/common file=/lib/ndb/local file=/lib/ndb/global .EE .PP declares the database to be composed of the three files .BR /lib/ndb/common , .BR /lib/ndb/local , and .BR /lib/ndb/global . By default, .B /lib/ndb/local is searched before the others. However, .B /lib/ndb/local may be included in the .B database to redefine its ordering. .PP Within tuples, pairs on the same line bind tighter than pairs on different lines. .PP Programs search the database directly using the routines in .IR ndb (2) or indirectly using .B ndb/cs and .B ndb/dns (see .IR ndb (8)). Both .B ndb/cs and the routine .I ndbipinfo impose structure on the otherwise flat database by using knowledge specific to the network. The internet is made up of networks which can be subnetted multiple times. A network must have an .B ipnet attribute and is uniquely identified by the values of its .B ip and .B ipmask attributes. If the .B ipmask is missing, the relevant Class A, B or C one is used. .LP A search for an attribute associated with a network or host starts at the lowest level, the entry for the host or network itself, and works its way up, bit by bit, looking at entries for nets/subnets that include the network or host. The search ends when the attribute is found. For example, consider the following entries: .IP .EX ipnet=murray-hill ip=135.104.0.0 ipmask=255.255.0.0 dns=135.104.10.1 ntp=ntp.cs.bell-labs.com ipnet=plan9 ip=135.104.9.0 ipmask=255.255.255.0 ntp=oncore.cs.bell-labs.com smtp=smtp1.cs.bell-labs.com ip=135.104.9.6 sys=anna dom=anna.cs.bell-labs.com smtp=smtp2.cs.bell-labs.com .EE .LP Here .B anna is on the subnet .B plan9 which is in turn on the class B net .BR murray-hill . Assume that we're searching for .BR anna 's .B NTP and .B SMTP servers. The search starts by looking for an entry with .BR sys=anna . We find the anna entry. Since it has an .B smtp=smtp2.cs.bell-labs.com pair, we're done looking for that attribute. To fulfill the NTP request, we continue by looking for networks that include anna's IP address. We lop off the right most one bit from anna's address and look for an .B ipnet= entry with .BR ip=135.104.9.4 . Not finding one, we drop another bit and look for an .B ipnet= entry with .BR ip=135.104.9.0 . There is such an entry and it has the pair, .BR ntp=oncore.cs.bell-labs.com , ending our search. .PP .I Ndb/cs can be made to perform such network aware searches by using metanames in the dialstring. A metaname is a .I $ followed by an attribute name. .I Ndb/cs looks up the attribute relative to the system it is running on. Thus, with the above example, if a program called .IP .EX dial("tcp!$smtp!smtp", 0, 0, 0); .EE .LP the dial would connect to the SMTP port of .BR smtp2.cs.bell-labs.com . .PP A number of attributes are meaningful to programs and thus reserved. They are: .TF rootserver .TP .B sys system name (a short name) .TP .B dom Internet fully-qualified domain name (without the trailing period) .TP .B ip Internet address, v4 or v6. .TP .B ipv6 IPv6 Internet address. For DNS, an .L AAAA record. .TP .B ipnet Internet network name .TP .B ipmask Internet network mask .TP .B ipgw Internet gateway (ip address) .TP .B ether Ethernet address (must be lower-case hex) .TP .B vendor Specific vendor attribute for dhcp and bootp .TP .B bootf file to download for initial bootstrap; .B /386/9bootpxe to boot a PC via PXE. .TP .B tftp an TFTP server to use for PXE bootstrap .TP .B fs Plan 9 file server to be used .TP .B auth Plan 9 authentication server to be used .TP .B authdom Plan 9 authentication domain. To specify an authentication server for a particular domain, add a tuple containing both .B auth and .B authdom attributes and values. .TP .B rootpath the NFS root for unix machines .TP .B rootserver the NFS server used with rootpath .TP .B dnsdomain a domain name that .I ndb/dns adds onto any unrooted names when doing a search. There may be multiple .B dnsdomain pairs. .TP .B dns a DNS server to use (for DNS and DHCP) .TP .B ntp an NTP server to use (for DHCP) .TP .B smtp an SMTP server to use (for DHCP) .TP .B time a time server to use (for DHCP) .TP .B wins a Windows name server (for DHCP) .TP .B mx mail exchanger (for DNS and DHCP); also .BR pref . .TP .B srv service location (for DNS); also .BR pri , .B weight and .BR port . .TP .B soa start of area (for DNS) .TP .B txt a descriptive text. For DNS, a .L TXT record. .TP .B txtrr obsolete, same as .B txt above. .TP .B caa certificate authority authorization (for DNS) .TP .B tcp a TCP service name .TP .B udp a UDP service name .TP .B port a TCP or UDP port number .TP .B restricted a TCP service that can be called only by ports numbered less than 1024 .TP .B proto a protocol supported by a host. The pair .B proto=il was needed by .I cs (see .IR ndb (8)) in tuples for hosts that supported the IL protocol .PD .PP .I Cs defers to .I dns to translate dotted names to IP addresses, only consulting the database files if .I dns cannot translate the name. .PP .I Cs allows network entries with .B sys and .B dom attributes but no .B ip attribute. Searches for the system name are resolved by looking up the domain name with .IR dns . .PP The file .B /lib/ndb/auth is used during authentication to decide who has the power to `speak for' other users; see .IR authsrv (6). .SH EXAMPLES .LP A tuple for the CPU server, spindle. .LP .EX sys=spindle dom=spindle.research.bell-labs.com bootf=/mips/9powerboot ip=135.104.117.32 ether=080069020677 .EE .LP Entries for the network .B mh-astro-net and its subnets. .LP .EX ipnet=mh-astro-net ip=135.104.0.0 ipmask=255.255.255.0 ipgw=r70.research.bell-labs.com fs=bootes.research.bell-labs.com auth=p9auth.research.bell-labs.com ipnet=unix-room ip=135.104.117.0 ipgw=135.104.117.1 ipnet=third-floor ip=135.104.51.0 ipgw=135.104.51.1 .EE .LP Mappings between TCP service names and port numbers. .LP .EX .ta \w'\fLtcp=sysmonxxxxx'u \w'\fLtcp=sysmonxxxxxport=512xxx'u tcp=sysmon port=401 tcp=rexec port=512 restricted tcp=9fs port=564 .EE .SH FILES .TF /lib/ndb/local .TP .B /lib/ndb/local first database file searched .SH "SEE ALSO" .IR con (1), .IR dial (2), .IR ndb (2), .IR booting (8), .IR dhcpd (8), .IR ipconfig (8), .IR ndb (8)