Network Information Service (NIS) B.11.31.02 Administrator's Guide

NIS Domains
An NIS domain is a collection of systems that share a common set of NIS maps. Each domain
has a domain name and the systems that share a common set of maps belong to the same domain.
Any system can belong to a given domain as long as there is a server for that domain's maps in
a reachable network. An NIS client system obtains its domain name and binds to an NIS server
as part of its boot process.
NIS Daemons
Table 1-1 lists the daemons that provide the NIS service.
Table 1-1 NIS Daemons
DescriptionNIS Daemon
Copies the NIS maps to the local host from an NIS server.
ypxfrd
Maintains the NIS database called maps, and services the NIS client requests.
ypserv
Maintains binding information for the hosts.
ypbind
Changes the password associated with a given login name.
yppasswdd
Updates information in the NIS database.
ypupdated
NIS Commands
Table 1-2 lists the commands that NIS supports.
Table 1-2 NIS Commands
DescriptionCommand
Sets or displays the name of the NIS domain. For more information, see domainname (1).
domainname
Generates an NIS map from an ASCII input file. For more information, see makedbm (1M).
makedbm
Prints all the values in an NIS map. For more information, see ypcat (1).
ypcat
Sets up an NIS master server, an NIS slave server, or an NIS client. For more information,
see ypinit (1M).
ypinit
Generates one or more NIS maps from the ASCII files and optionally transfers them to the
NIS slave servers. The /var/yp/Makefile and make (1) commands support the same
functionality. For more information, see ypmake (1M).
ypmake
Prints the values associated with one or more selected keys in an NIS map. For more
information, see ypmatch (1).
ypmatch
Changes a login password that is stored in the NIS passwd map. For more information, see
yppasswd (1).
yppasswd
Returns the name of the master server for an NIS map and the time at which the map was
built. For more information, see yppoll (1M).
yppoll
Copies an NIS map from the NIS master server to each of the NIS slave servers. The yppush
command constructs a list of NIS server host names by reading the NIS map ypservers
within the domain. Keys within the ypservers map are the host names of the machines on
which the NIS servers run. yppush then sends a "transfer map" request to the NIS server at
each host, along with the information needed by the transfer agent (the program that actually
moves the map) to call back yppush. See ypmake(1M) and ypinit(1M) for more information.
yppush
Instructs an NIS client process (ypbind) to bind to a specified NIS server. The ypset
command can be used only if ypbind is invoked with the -ypset option. For more
information, see ypset (1M).
ypset
NIS Naming Service Components 13