NetInfo

NetInfo is the system configuration database in NeXTSTEP and Mac OS X versions up through Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger". NetInfo replaces most of the Unix system configuration files, though they are still present for running the machine in single user mode; most Unix APIs wrap around NetInfo instead. NetInfo stores system wide network-type configuration information, such as users and groups, in binary databases; while Mac OS X machine and application specific settings are stored as plist files.

History

NetInfo was introduced in NeXTSTEP version 0.9, and replaced both the Unix system configuration files and Sun Microsystems' Network Information Service (Yellow Pages) on NeXT computers. It immediately caused controversy, much unfavorable. Not only was NetInfo unique to NeXT computers (although NeXT later licensed NetInfo to Xedoc, an Australian software company who produced NetInfo for other UNIX systems),[1] DNS queries went through NetInfo. This led to a situation where basic tasks such as translating a UNIX UID to a user name string would not complete because NetInfo was stalled on a DNS lookup. At first, it was possible to disable NetInfo and use the Unix system files, but as of NeXTSTEP version 2 disabling NetInfo also disabled DNS support. Thus, NeXT computers became notorious for locking a user out of everyday tasks because a DNS server had stopped responding.

The Mac OS X version of NetInfo remedied this (and many other problems), but due to the early problems, NetInfo never took over the world of Unix system configuration.

Apple has moved away from using NetInfo towards LDAP, particularly in Mac OS X Server. . Mac OS X v10.4 is the last version to support Netinfo. Beginning with Mac OS X v10.5, Netinfo has been completely phased out and replaced by a new local search node named dslocal, which files are located in /var/db/dslocal/ and are standard property list (XML-based) files.[2]

Files

The NetInfo Database is stored in /private/var/db/netinfo/local.nidb/, and can only be accessed by root. It can be viewed and modified through its application programming interface, the NetInfo Manager utility, or command line tools such as niutil.

As Netinfo has been completely removed from Mac OS X 10.5, the Netinfo-based command line tools have also been phased out and replaced by other tools. Also, Netinfo Manager has been removed.

Data

Netinfo stores the following data:

  • afpuser_aliases
  • aliases
  • exports (nfs shares)
  • groups
  • machines
  • mounts
  • networks
  • printers
  • protocols
  • rpcs
  • services
  • users
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gollark: At the same time or not?
gollark: If it's in green anyway.
gollark: Ah, it looks very hackery, you see.
gollark: processor : 0vendor_id : AuthenticAMDcpu family : 23model : 1model name : AMD Ryzen 3 1200 Quad-Core Processorstepping : 1microcode : 0x800111ccpu MHz : 3410.279cache size : 512 KBphysical id : 0siblings : 4core id : 0cpu cores : 4apicid : 0initial apicid : 0fpu : yesfpu_exception : yescpuid level : 13wp : yesflags : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc cpuid extd_apicid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw skinit wdt tce topoext perfctr_core perfctr_nb bpext perfctr_llc mwaitx cpb hw_pstate sme ssbd sev vmmcall fsgsbase bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 rdseed adx smap clflushopt sha_ni xsaveopt xsavec xgetbv1 xsaves clzero irperf xsaveerptr arat npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale vmcb_clean flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold avic v_vmsave_vmload vgif overflow_recov succor smcabugs : sysret_ss_attrs null_seg spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypassbogomips : 6989.20TLB size : 2560 4K pagesclflush size : 64cache_alignment : 64address sizes : 43 bits physical, 48 bits virtualpower management: ts ttp tm hwpstate eff_freq_ro [13] [14]

See also

References
  1. Garfinkel, Simson (July 1993). "From Down Under to Everywhere". Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  2. Welch, John (November 16, 2007). "Analysis: The end of Netinfo". Retrieved 2007-11-16.
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