NetInfo Manager (path: /Applications/Utilities/NetInfo Manager) is the graphical interface to the NetInfo database. Using NetInfo Manager to Examine the NetInfo Database
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You'll learn how to work with the NetInfo database by customizing several aspects of your system, modifying a local user, and adding arbitrary data structures into the NetInfo database. This chapter examines the NetInfo database using the graphical interface, NetInfo Manager, as well as a few command-line tools. However, because NetInfo isn't a widespread network type, it's more likely your machine is using its NetInfo database either as a standalone machine or, possibly, as part of a Unix cluster (a cooperating group of machines). Your machine could be part of a larger NetInfo network. That domain could describe resources available to your local cluster of machines it could also belong to another domain that might include information on yet another level of resources available, and so on. Your machine has its own local domain, but it could belong to a domain comprised of it and other machines. A NetInfo network could have an unlimited number of domains, but up to three domains is most common. A NetInfo network is a hierarchical collection of domains, where each domain has a corresponding NetInfo database. As you might have guessed, your machine can be part of a NetInfo network. The NetInfo hierarchy can extend beyond your local machine. Each machine has a local database with information about the machine's local resources. The main directory on a given machine is the root directory, represented by /. The NetInfo hierarchy is composed of directories. The NetInfo database is a hierarchical database that stores information on your machine's configuration and resources.
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NetInfo is a vestige of Mac OS X's NeXTStep heritage that has been integrated into the more traditional Unix underpinnings of Mac OS X because it's a considerably more powerful information sharing system than its traditional Unix counterparts. The principles behind the use of NetInfo Manager are very Unix-like, but the NetInfo database itself is unfamiliar to most traditional Unix users. For this, you need to use NetInfo Manager. The Accounts pane is intended to be a simple interface to the user accounts of the system and doesn't provide access to more complex aspects of users' accounts nor to more sophisticated configuration options.