1<?xml version='1.0'?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
2<!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3  "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd">
4<!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
5
6<refentry id="nss-systemd" conditional='ENABLE_NSS_SYSTEMD'>
7
8  <refentryinfo>
9    <title>nss-systemd</title>
10    <productname>systemd</productname>
11  </refentryinfo>
12
13  <refmeta>
14    <refentrytitle>nss-systemd</refentrytitle>
15    <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
16  </refmeta>
17
18  <refnamediv>
19    <refname>nss-systemd</refname>
20    <refname>libnss_systemd.so.2</refname>
21    <refpurpose>UNIX user and group name resolution for user/group lookup via Varlink</refpurpose>
22  </refnamediv>
23
24  <refsynopsisdiv>
25    <para><filename>libnss_systemd.so.2</filename></para>
26  </refsynopsisdiv>
27
28  <refsect1>
29    <title>Description</title>
30
31    <para><command>nss-systemd</command> is a plug-in module for the GNU Name Service Switch (NSS)
32    functionality of the GNU C Library (<command>glibc</command>), providing UNIX user and group name
33    resolution for services implementing the <ulink url="https://systemd.io/USER_GROUP_API">User/Group Record
34    Lookup API via Varlink</ulink>, such as the system and service manager
35    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> (for its
36    <varname>DynamicUser=</varname> feature, see
37    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for
38    details),
39    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, or <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-machined.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
40
41    <para>This module also ensures that the root and nobody users and groups (i.e. the users/groups with the UIDs/GIDs
42    0 and 65534) remain resolvable at all times, even if they aren't listed in <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> or
43    <filename>/etc/group</filename>, or if these files are missing.</para>
44
45    <para>This module preferably utilizes
46    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-userdbd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>
47    for resolving users and groups, but also works without the service running.</para>
48
49    <para>To activate the NSS module, add <literal>systemd</literal> to the lines starting with
50    <literal>passwd:</literal>, <literal>group:</literal>, <literal>shadow:</literal> and
51    <literal>gshadow:</literal> in <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename>.</para>
52
53    <para>It is recommended to place <literal>systemd</literal> after the <literal>files</literal> or
54    <literal>compat</literal> entry of the <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename> lines so that
55    <filename>/etc/passwd</filename>, <filename>/etc/group</filename>, <filename>/etc/shadow</filename> and
56    <filename>/etc/gshadow</filename> based mappings take precedence.</para>
57  </refsect1>
58
59  <refsect1>
60    <title>Static Drop-In JSON User/Group Records</title>
61
62    <para>Besides user/group records acquired via the aforementioned Varlink IPC interfaces and the
63    synthesized root and nobody accounts, this module also makes user and group accounts available to the
64    system that are defined in static drop-in files in the <filename>/etc/userdb/</filename>,
65    <filename>/run/userdb/</filename>, <filename>/run/host/userdb/</filename> and
66    <filename>/usr/lib/userdb/</filename> directories.</para>
67
68    <para>This is a simple mechanism to provide static user and group records via JSON drop-in files. Such
69    user records should be defined in the format described by the <ulink
70    url="https://systemd.io/USER_RECORD">JSON User Records</ulink> specification and be placed in one of the
71    aforementioned directories under a file name composed of the user name suffixed with
72    <filename>.user</filename>, with a world-readable access mode. A symlink named after the user record's
73    UID formatted in decimal and suffixed with <filename>.user</filename> pointing to the primary record file
74    should be created as well, in order to allow both lookups by username and by UID. Privileged user record
75    data (e.g. hashed UNIX passwords) may optionally be provided as well, in a pair of separate companion
76    files with the <filename>.user-privileged</filename> suffix. The data should be stored in a regular file
77    named after the user name, suffixed with <filename>.user-privileged</filename>, and a symlink pointing to
78    it, named after the used numeric UID formatted in decimal with the same suffix. These companion files
79    should not be readable to anyone but root. Example:</para>
80
81    <programlisting>-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  723 May 10 foobar.user
82-rw-------. 1 root root  123 May 10 foobar.user-privileged
83lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root   19 May 10 4711.user -> foobar.user
84lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root   19 May 10 4711.user-privileged -> foobar.user-privileged</programlisting>
85
86    <para>Similarly, group records following the format described in <ulink
87    url="https://systemd.io/GROUP_RECORD">JSON Group Record</ulink> may be defined, using the file suffixes
88    <filename>.group</filename> and <filename>.group-privileged</filename>.</para>
89
90    <para>The primary user/group record files (i.e. those with the <filename>.user</filename> and
91    <filename>.group</filename> suffixes) should not contain the <literal>privileged</literal> section as
92    described in the specifications. The privileged user/group record files (i.e. those with the
93    <filename>.user-privileged</filename> and <filename>.group-privileged</filename> suffixes) should
94    contain this section, exclusively.</para>
95
96    <para>Note that static user/group records generally do not override conflicting records in
97    <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> or <filename>/etc/group</filename> or other account databases. In fact,
98    before dropping in these files a reasonable level of care should be taken to avoid user/group name and
99    UID/GID conflicts.</para>
100  </refsect1>
101
102  <refsect1>
103    <title>Configuration in <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename></title>
104
105    <para>Here is an example <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename> file that enables
106    <command>nss-systemd</command> correctly:</para>
107
108    <!-- synchronize with other nss-* man pages and factory/etc/nsswitch.conf -->
109    <programlisting>passwd:         compat <command>systemd</command>
110group:          compat [SUCCESS=merge] <command>systemd</command>
111shadow:         compat <command>systemd</command>
112gshadow:        files <command>systemd</command>
113
114hosts:          mymachines resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns
115networks:       files
116
117protocols:      db files
118services:       db files
119ethers:         db files
120rpc:            db files
121
122netgroup:       nis</programlisting>
123
124  </refsect1>
125
126  <refsect1>
127    <title>Example: Mappings provided by <filename>systemd-machined.service</filename></title>
128
129    <para>The container <literal>rawhide</literal> is spawned using
130    <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>:
131    </para>
132
133    <programlisting># systemd-nspawn -M rawhide --boot --network-veth --private-users=pick
134Spawning container rawhide on /var/lib/machines/rawhide.
135Selected user namespace base 20119552 and range 65536.
136...
137
138$ machinectl --max-addresses=3
139MACHINE CLASS     SERVICE        OS     VERSION ADDRESSES
140rawhide container systemd-nspawn fedora 30      169.254.40.164 fe80::94aa:3aff:fe7b:d4b9
141
142$ getent passwd vu-rawhide-0 vu-rawhide-81
143vu-rawhide-0:*:20119552:65534:vu-rawhide-0:/:/usr/sbin/nologin
144vu-rawhide-81:*:20119633:65534:vu-rawhide-81:/:/usr/sbin/nologin
145
146$ getent group vg-rawhide-0 vg-rawhide-81
147vg-rawhide-0:*:20119552:
148vg-rawhide-81:*:20119633:
149
150$ ps -o user:15,pid,tty,command -e|grep '^vu-rawhide'
151vu-rawhide-0      692 ?        /usr/lib/systemd/systemd
152vu-rawhide-0      731 ?        /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald
153vu-rawhide-192    734 ?        /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd
154vu-rawhide-193    738 ?        /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-resolved
155vu-rawhide-0      742 ?        /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind
156vu-rawhide-81     744 ?        /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only
157vu-rawhide-0      746 ?        /usr/sbin/sshd -D ...
158vu-rawhide-0      752 ?        /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
159vu-rawhide-0      753 ?        (sd-pam)
160vu-rawhide-0     1628 ?        login -- zbyszek
161vu-rawhide-1000  1630 ?        /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
162vu-rawhide-1000  1631 ?        (sd-pam)
163vu-rawhide-1000  1637 pts/8    -zsh
164</programlisting>
165  </refsect1>
166
167  <refsect1>
168    <title>See Also</title>
169    <para>
170      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
171      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
172      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>nss-resolve</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
173      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>nss-myhostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
174      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>nss-mymachines</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
175      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-userdbd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
176      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
177      <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-machined.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
178      <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>nsswitch.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry>,
179      <citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>getent</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
180    </para>
181  </refsect1>
182
183</refentry>
184