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

transfers during intervals when the network load is low, and advise users to make their
password changes during these intervals.
□ Run the following command on the NIS client to determine the master server that provides
the passwd map to the client:
/usr/bin/ypwhich -m passwd
If the server does not respond, see “NIS “Server Not Responding” Message” (page 45) in
the troubleshooting chapter.
If the ypwhich command returns the name of the NIS master server, log in as root to the
master server and ensure that the user has an entry in the /etc/passwd file. Then, run the
following commands on the master server to generate the NIS passwd database from the
/etc/passwd file ( or from a private password file if it is being used), and replicate it to
the NIS slave servers:
touch /etc/passwd
cd /var/yp
/usr/ccs/bin/make passwd
□ Run the following command to check whether the NIS client has an entry in the passwd
database on the NIS server to which it is bound:
/usr/bin/ypmatch username passwd
If the client has no entry in the passwd database, run the following commands on the NIS
server to which the client is bound:
/usr/sbin/ypxfr passwd.byname
/usr/sbin/ypxfr passwd.byuid
This command transfers the passwd database from the NIS master server to the slave server
where the command was run.
□ If the user’s NIS client is bound to a slave server, use the following procedure to ensure that
the slave server is listed in the NIS master server’s ypservers database:
1. Run the following command on the NIS client to determine the server to which the
client is bound:
/usr/bin/ypwhich
2. Log in to the NIS master server, and run the following command:
cd /var/yp/domainname
3. Run the following command on the NIS master server to write the contents of the
ypservers database to a temporary file:
/usr/sbin/makedbm -u ypservers > tempfile
4. If the NIS slave server is not listed in tempfile, use a text editor to add it, and then
run the following command to rebuild the ypservers database:
/usr/sbin/makedbm tempfile ypservers
5. Log in to the NIS slave server and run the following command:
/usr/sbin/ypxfr ypservers
“Unknown Host” Message
If the message “Unknown Host” is displayed, you can do the following:
□ Run the following command to trace a lookup of the unknown host:
/usr/contrib/bin/nsquery hosts hostname
46 Troubleshooting NIS