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

The NIS subsystem can now interpret the passwd and shadow files when the system is in
shadow mode, that is, the NIS subsystem can recognize a system running in shadow mode,
and build, store, and retrieve the password information accordingly.
NOTE: The encrypted password information used for creating NIS password maps is
present in the shadow file and is visible in the passwd maps (passwd.byname and
passwd.byuid).
To enable this feature, a variable, SHADOW_MODE, is introduced in the
/etc/rc.config.d/namesvrs file. The SWFILE option is introduced in the ypmake
command to indicate the shadow file. The default value for SWFILE is /etc/shadow. For
more information, see ypmake (1M).
• Multi-Homed Node
A multi-homed node is a node that has multiple network interfaces configured. The NIS
server can index hosts with multiple entries in the hosts and ipnodes database. While building
the NIS maps, ypmake identifies multiple entries with the same hostname, and accommodates
the entries in the maps with the aid of the multi and multi.awk scripts. If a host has
multiple entries in the database and the ipnodes map is queried, then all the entries are
returned. Similarly, if the hosts map is queried, then the address nearest to the NIS client is
returned. In previous versions of HP-UX, only the first address listed for a host was built
into the NIS maps.
• Support for IPv6 Protocol
The NIS clients and servers support the IPv6 protocol. Therefore, you can set up an NIS
master server, a slave server, or an NIS client that can be identified using an IPv6 address.
The maps that store host information for NIS are hosts and ipnodes. The /etc/hosts file
contains both IPv4 and IPv6 information. When NIS maps are built, NIS filters the IPv4
information from the /etc/hosts file to build the hosts maps that contain only IPv4
information. It also filters /etc/hosts to build the ipnodes maps, such as ipnodes.byaddr
and ipnodes.byname, that contain both IPv4 and IPv6 information. Ipnodes are a superset
of hosts and act as the hosts database for IPv6 information.
• Alternate Directory for the passwd File
On HP-UX 11i v3, users may now specify a directory other than the default directory /etc
where NIS must look for the passwd file. If the system is running in shadow mode, the
shadow file must be present in the same alternate directory specified as the passwd file.
This feature enhances the security of the system as the administrator can specify a directory
for passwd and shadow files which is known to the administrator only.
Specifying a directory where the passwd and shadow files can be found is mandatory when
starting the NIS passwd daemon rpc.yppasswdd on HP-UX 11i v3. The default value is
/etc. A new option –D has been introduced to rpc.yppasswdd for this feature in HP-UX
11i v3.
• Long Username and Long Hostname support
On HP-UX 11i v3, the usernames for NIS users can be up to 256 characters long. The
hostnames can be up to 256 characters long for:
— The hosts on which NIS is running
— The entries stored and accessed through the hosts and ipnodes maps
• Support for NIS ypbind v3 Protocol
The NIS client supports the v3 version of the ypbind protocol. This ypbind protocol
supports the Transport Independent (TI) RPC.
Features in NIS 17