nsswitch solution:explanation required

[Howard Mann <howardm@xmission.com>]

Hi,

Background: I use DSL with Slink. My ISP recently mandated a change in
the configuration of the DSL router from "bridging" to "ppp" mode.
After the change, I could not resolve names ( DNS ). nslookup would
fail. The "route" command would take a _long_ time to print the final
" default gateway" line.

I corrected this by editing the /etc/nsswitch file as follows  ( * =
change) :

                BEFORE                   AFTER

passwd:         compat                  compat
group:          compat                  compat
shadow:         compat                  compat

hosts:          files dns               dns  files  *
networks:       files                   nis   files  *

protocols:      db files                 db  files
services:       db files                 db  files
ethers:         db files                 db  files
rpc:            db files                 db  files

netgroup:       db  files                nis  *


I did this by trial-and error, not with any insight. I believe the
change involving the "hosts" or "networks" lines finally did the
trick.

Can anyone explain why this worked ?

Thanks,


Howard Mann.


-- 

Howard Mann                   Online Troubleshooting Resources: HOWTO
http://www.newbielinux.com    http://www.xmission.com/~howardm/t1.html