The NSS kernel module ( km_nss) and its sources are delivered with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 and later for the following reasons:
Kernel modules need to be open-source to meet the GPL requirements.
If a customer adds a kernel patch for some third-party module, application, or service, the NSS sources must be in the kernel code in order to get recompiled with the patch. Otherwise, an OES deployment using NSS would break.
IMPORTANT:You can download patches for the km_nss module from the Novell SUSE Patch Support Database (PSDB) .
Although the NSS kernel modules are included in SLES 9 and later, they are not usable without OES because NSS is a unique file system that is tightly integrated with identity management. The root user is the only local user who can see NSS volumes on an OES Linux server. NSS needs Linux User Management and Novell eDirectory to establish non-root connections to the volume. It is OES that provides Linux User Management, eDirectory, Novell Core Protocol Server, and volume and user space management tools that make NSS volumes usable on an OES Linux server.