12.6. Setting ethers Information for a Host

NIS can host an ethers table which can be used to manage DHCP configuration files for systems based on their platform, operating system, DNS domain, and MAC address — all information stored in host entries in IdM.
In Identity Management, each system is created with a corresponding ethers entry in the directory, in the ou=ethers subtree. 
cn=server,ou=ethers,dc=example,dc=com
This entry is used to create a NIS map for the ethers service which can be managed by the NIS compatibility plug-in in IdM.
To configure NIS maps for ethers entries:
  1. Add the MAC address attribute to a host entry. For example: 
    [jsmith@server ~]$ kinit admin
[jsmith@server ~]$ ipa host-mod --macaddress=12:34:56:78:9A:BC server.example.com
  2. Open the nsswitch.conf file.
  3. Add a line for the ethers service, and set it to use LDAP for its lookup. 
    ethers: ldap
  4. Check that the ethers information is available for the client. 
    [root@server ~]# getent ethers server.example.com