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/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
4 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
6 <refentry id="nss-systemd" conditional='ENABLE_NSS_SYSTEMD'>
9 <title>nss-systemd</title>
10 <productname>systemd</productname>
14 <refentrytitle>nss-systemd</refentrytitle>
15 <manvolnum>8</manvolnum>
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>
25 <para><filename>libnss_systemd.so.2</filename></para>
29 <title>Description</title>
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
39 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>, or <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-machined.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.</para>
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 are not listed in <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> or
43 <filename>/etc/group</filename>, or if these files are missing.</para>
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>
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>
53 <para>It is recommended to place <literal>systemd</literal> after the <literal>files</literal> entry of
54 the <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename> lines so that <filename>/etc/passwd</filename>,
55 <filename>/etc/group</filename>, <filename>/etc/shadow</filename> and <filename>/etc/gshadow</filename>
56 based mappings take precedence.</para>
60 <title>Static Drop-In JSON User/Group Records</title>
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>
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>
81 <programlisting>-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 723 May 10 foobar.user
82 -rw-------. 1 root root 123 May 10 foobar.user-privileged
83 lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 19 May 10 4711.user -> foobar.user
84 lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 19 May 10 4711.user-privileged -> foobar.user-privileged</programlisting>
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>
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>
96 <para>In addition to the two types of user record files and the two types of group record files there's a
97 fifth type of file that may be placed in the searched directories: files that indicate membership of
98 users in groups. Specifically, for every pair of user/group where the user shall be a member of a group a
100 <literal><replaceable>username</replaceable>:<replaceable>groupname</replaceable>.membership</literal>
101 should be created, i.e. the textual UNIX user name, followed by a colon, followed by the textual UNIX
102 group name, suffixed by <literal>.membership</literal>. The contents of these files are currently not
103 read, and the files should be created empty. The mere existence of these files is enough to effect a
104 user/group membership. If a program provides user and/or group record files in the searched directories,
105 it should always also create such files, both for primary and auxiliary group memberships.</para>
107 <para>Note that static user/group records generally do not override conflicting records in
108 <filename>/etc/passwd</filename> or <filename>/etc/group</filename> or other account databases. In fact,
109 before dropping in these files a reasonable level of care should be taken to avoid user/group name and
110 UID/GID conflicts.</para>
114 <title>Configuration in <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename></title>
116 <para>Here is an example <filename>/etc/nsswitch.conf</filename> file that enables
117 <command>nss-systemd</command> correctly:</para>
119 <!-- synchronize with other nss-* man pages and factory/etc/nsswitch.conf -->
120 <programlisting>passwd: files <command>systemd</command>
121 group: files <command>[SUCCESS=merge] systemd</command>
122 shadow: files <command>systemd</command>
123 gshadow: files <command>systemd</command>
125 hosts: mymachines resolve [!UNAVAIL=return] files myhostname dns
133 netgroup: nis</programlisting>
138 <title>Example: Mappings provided by <filename>systemd-machined.service</filename></title>
140 <para>The container <literal>rawhide</literal> is spawned using
141 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-nspawn</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>:
144 <programlisting># systemd-nspawn -M rawhide --boot --network-veth --private-users=pick
145 Spawning container rawhide on /var/lib/machines/rawhide.
146 Selected user namespace base 20119552 and range 65536.
149 $ machinectl --max-addresses=3
150 MACHINE CLASS SERVICE OS VERSION ADDRESSES
151 rawhide container systemd-nspawn fedora 30 169.254.40.164 fe80::94aa:3aff:fe7b:d4b9
153 $ getent passwd vu-rawhide-0 vu-rawhide-81
154 vu-rawhide-0:*:20119552:65534:vu-rawhide-0:/:/usr/sbin/nologin
155 vu-rawhide-81:*:20119633:65534:vu-rawhide-81:/:/usr/sbin/nologin
157 $ getent group vg-rawhide-0 vg-rawhide-81
158 vg-rawhide-0:*:20119552:
159 vg-rawhide-81:*:20119633:
161 $ ps -o user:15,pid,tty,command -e|grep '^vu-rawhide'
162 vu-rawhide-0 692 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd
163 vu-rawhide-0 731 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald
164 vu-rawhide-192 734 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd
165 vu-rawhide-193 738 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-resolved
166 vu-rawhide-0 742 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-logind
167 vu-rawhide-81 744 ? /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only
168 vu-rawhide-0 746 ? /usr/sbin/sshd -D ...
169 vu-rawhide-0 752 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
170 vu-rawhide-0 753 ? (sd-pam)
171 vu-rawhide-0 1628 ? login -- zbyszek
172 vu-rawhide-1000 1630 ? /usr/lib/systemd/systemd --user
173 vu-rawhide-1000 1631 ? (sd-pam)
174 vu-rawhide-1000 1637 pts/8 -zsh
179 <title>See Also</title>
180 <para><simplelist type="inline">
181 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
182 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd.exec</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
183 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>nss-resolve</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
184 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>nss-myhostname</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
185 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>nss-mymachines</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
186 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-userdbd.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
187 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-homed.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
188 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-machined.service</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
189 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>nsswitch.conf</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
190 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'><refentrytitle>getent</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>