Note: The information contained in this article is structured as help information for the System Management Information Tool (SMIT) and is not intended for general reading.
A domain is a logical group of clients and servers. All hosts (clients and servers) within a domain must have the same domain name.
An NIS server is a host that provides resources for other computers on the network. In the NIS environment, only NIS servers have a set of NIS maps, which they make available to clients over the network. These server computers run the ypserv daemon continually in order to process information for NIS maps. An NIS master server is a host that maintains the authoritative NIS maps for each domain. Any changes to an NIS map should be made on the master server. The changes made to the master server are then propagated to the slave servers.
Before NIS can be configured, the portmap daemon must be running.
The NIS daemons are used to connect clients to servers within a domain, to allow passwords to be added or modified, and to look up information in the NIS maps.
Executes the ypinit command and starts the NIS daemons to configure a master server.
The master server is a host that maintains NIS maps for each domain. Each domain contains one and only one master server.
Executes the ypinit command to retrieve maps from an NIS master server and starts the ypserv daemon to configure a slave server.
The slave server is a host that maintains replicas of NIS maps. It is used to provide services when the master server is unavailable and to balance the processing load. Each domain can have multiple slave servers, and it is recommended that each domain have at least one slave server.
Starts the ypbind daemon, which allows this host to operate as a client.
A client queries NIS servers for system information.
Executes the rmyp command to remove all maps and stop all NIS daemons.
All hosts (clients and servers) within a domain must have the same domain name.
This field is filled in for you with the current domain name.
A master server can serve more than one domain.
This field is filled in for you with the names of all domains being served by this master.
The keyserv daemon stores the public or private encryption keys of each user logged into the system. The keyserv daemon also keeps the secure network services operating normally. Select this option if you want to run secure network services.
The keyserv daemon stores the public or private encryption keys of each user logged into the system. The keyserv daemon also keeps the secure network services operating normally. Select this option if you no longer want to run secure network services.
Creates or changes a public key for a user. These keys are needed for using secure Remote Procedure Call (RPC) protocol or secure Network File System (NFS).
Network Information Service
NIS is a distributed database system to share system information. NIS is used when there are a number of systems that need to share system information. This information includes the /etc/passwd, /etc/group, and /etc/hosts files. NIS improves network performance in the following ways:
All updates to the maps located on the NIS master server must be propagated, or copied, to the NIS slave servers. When a map on the NIS master server is updated, the make command automatically executes the yppush command after rebuilding the map.
The yppush command notifies all NIS slave servers that a map must be transferred. The ypserv daemon on each NIS slave server invokes the ypxfr command to get the updated map. A NIS slave server that is out of service when the yppush command is invoked retains the earlier version of the NIS map when it returns to the network.
Start and Stop Network Information Service Daemons
NIS daemons are started and stopped by using the startsrc and stopsrc commands. The daemons are usually started by the commands used for configuring the NIS master server, slave servers, and clients. The daemons may be started and stopped individually by using the startsrc and stopsrc commands.
Updates information in NIS maps.
The chmaster command executes the ypinit command and restarts the NIS daemons to change a master server.
Re-executes the ypinit command to retrieve maps from a master server and re-starts the ypserv daemon to change the slave server.
The chypdom command will change the domain name of the system. The DomainName parameter specifies the new domain name for the system.
The master server specified should already be configured and running.
The ypbind daemon binds, or connects, processes on an NIS client to services on an NIS server.
The yppasswdd daemon is a server that receives and executes requests for new passwords from the yppasswd command.
The ypserv daemon looks up information in its local NIS maps .
Transfers an NIS map from an NIS server to a local host.
-f - Forces the transfer to occur even if the version at the master is not more recent than the local version.