Getent

Getent

The system-supplied getent tool is a CLI interface to the C API that can be used for querying DBIS in the same way as any other NSS map, provided that the [Name Service Switch] configuration has been completed first.

Here is a comparison of using the [Client Tool] (in short output mode) and using the system-supplied getent tool on a password entry:

$ dbis getpwnam mark
mark:x:801:900:Bannister, Mark:/home/mark:/bin/bash

$ getent passwd mark
mark:x:801:900:Bannister, Mark:/home/mark:/bin/bash

Here is another comparison on a group entry:

$ dbis getgrgid 900
prostaff:x:900:

$ getent group 900
prostaff:x:900:

The getent command uses the C API which invokes the NSS library, which in turn connects to dbis-cachemgr via the NSS socket. The [Client Tool] uses the Python API which connects directly to dbis-cachemgr via the client socket.

Note that the [Client Tool] provides more functionality than getent and allows all DBIS maps to be queried, whereas getent is restricted to those configured in the [Name Service Switch] file.

For more information on the other components of DBIS, see [Using DBIS].