I did run the following command:
# strace -f omon "smtp relay" 2> strace &
and the interesting output is this:
-------------------------------------------
# cat strace | grep -i nss
[pid 4733] open("/etc/nsswitch.conf", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] <... read resumed> "#\n# /etc/nsswitch.conf\n#\n# An ex"..., 4096) = 1217
[pid 4733] open("/opt/scalix/lib/tls/i686/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/opt/scalix/lib/tls/i686/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/opt/scalix/lib/tls/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/opt/scalix/lib/tls/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/opt/scalix/lib/i686/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/opt/scalix/lib/i686/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/opt/scalix/lib/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/opt/scalix/lib/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("tls/i686/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("tls/i686/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("tls/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("tls/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("i686/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("i686/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/lib/tls/i686/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/lib/tls/i686/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/lib/tls/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/lib/tls/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/lib/i686/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/lib/i686/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/lib/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/lib/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/usr/lib/tls/i686/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/usr/lib/tls/i686/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/usr/lib/tls/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY <unfinished ...>
[pid 4733] open("/usr/lib/tls/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
[pid 4733] open("/usr/lib/i686/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
[pid 4733] open("/usr/lib/i686/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
[pid 4733] open("/usr/lib/sse2/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
[pid 4733] open("/usr/lib/libnss_dbfiles.so.2", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
# cat /etc/nsswitch.conf | grep -v "^#" | grep -v "^$"
passwd: compat winbind
group: compat winbind
hosts: files dns wins
networks: files
services: dbfiles
protocols: db files
rpc: dbfiles
ethers: dbfiles
netgroup: nis
-------------------------------------------
Okay, I see the problem.
He removed the spaces on several lines between 'db' and 'files'.
After I put the space back in, the the smtp relay started back up just fine!
Thank you for responding so quickly, and sorry that it wasn't "really" interesting

.