NFS Services Administrator's Guide

Configuring and Administering NIS
Planning the NIS Network
Chapter 4 151
Planning the NIS Network
This section explains how to plan the layout of your NIS network. It tells
you how to perform the following tasks:
• To Determine the Number of NIS Domains You Need
• To Determine the Number of NIS Servers You Need
• To Determine Which Hosts Will Be NIS Servers
• To Draw an NIS Network Map
To Determine the Number of NIS Domains You Need
For many sites, all hosts can belong to the same domain, and it is not
necessary to set up more than one. However, you might want to create
multiple domains for the following reasons:
• If your site is divided into multiple administrative departments, with
a different system administrator for each department, you should
allow each system administrator to maintain a separate NIS domain.
• If your site is divided into multiple administrative departments, and
each department requires different configuration data and allows
access to different users and hosts, you should create a separate NIS
domain for each administrative department.