nscd - do I need this ?

Hi, I asked myself for some time: What is this nscd thing for ? I know, caching of names, etc. But do I actually have to have it ? Moreover, for some reason, this morning nscd "forgot" root's identity, leaving root without name on the system. So e.g. "ps -ef" looked rather frightening. rcnscd restart got it back. Q1: Any reason I MUST run nscd ? Q2: Anyone konow about this rather ridiculous fault ? TIA Dan -- buddha 2.4.20-4GB 9:39am up 12 days 1:00, 3