There can be multiple file name databases. Users can select which
databases locate searches using the LOCATE_PATH
environment variable or a command line option. The system
administrator can choose the file name of the default database, the
frequency with which the databases are updated, and the directories
for which they contain entries. File name databases are updated by
running the updatedb program, typically nightly.
In networked environments, it often makes sense to build a database at
the root of each filesystem, containing the entries for that filesystem.
updatedb is then run for each filesystem on the fileserver where
that filesystem is on a local disk, to prevent thrashing the network.
See Invoking updatedb,
for the description of the options to updatedb, which specify
which directories would each database contain entries for.