DBM user database file is in similar format to the DBM files supported by Merit and other RADIUS servers. Entries are hashed by user name, which is unique. Each user entry consists of two strings separated by newline characters. The first line is a list of comma separated Check items in the form “Attribute = Value”. The second line is a list of comma separated Reply items in the form “Attribute = Value”. During authentication, the check and reply items are used in exactly the same way as for a Flat file user database. For more information, see Section 7. Check and reply items.

Radiator will choose the best format of DBM file available to you, depending on which DBM modules are installed on your machine. (Hint: You can force it to choose a particular format by using the DBType parameter, and by using the -t flag with builddbm).

You can convert a flat file user database directly into a DBM user database with builddbm utility, and you can also use builddbm to print the attributes for a particular user. You can convert a DBM user database into an SQL database with the buildsql utility.

A DBM database can have multiple DEFAULT users. During authentication, if no user name is found in the DBM database, the DEFAULT users will be tried in the order that they appeared in the input file, until a match is found. Technical Note: when the DBM file is built from a flat file, the first DEFAULT user encountered is added to the DBM file with the name DEFAULT. The seconds and subsequent DEFAULT entries are added as DEFAULT1, DEFAULT2 etc. Therefore the uniqueness and order of DEFAULT users in the database is guaranteed.