Chapter 32. Configuring and Managing NIS

   

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Chapter Syllabus

32.1 NIS Concepts

32.2 Configuring NIS

32.3 Managing NIS

32.4 Controlling Access

32.5 Using SAM to Configure NIS

The administration of multiple UNIX hosts on a network requires lots of time and effort, particularly in cases of large networks. For example, it is hard to keep user names and passwords on all network systems consistent. Similarly, if you are not using a DNS, maintenance of host files is cumbersome when the number of hosts grows large. Different techniques are used to keep the maintenance and management work as centralized as possible. In the last chapter, you studied the Domain Name System, where a centralized data base of host names and IP addresses is maintained . The Network Information Service (NIS) is a method of maintaining centralized data bases of host and user information. This centralized management concept decreases system administration overhead and maintains consistent information across the network.

NIS is based on a domain concept. Every system using NIS is part of one domain. This domain name is not like the Internet domain names where a domain hierarchy is used. The name of this domain is valid only for private networks and both NIS and DNS can coexist. A master NIS server maintains the central NIS data base. One or more slave NIS servers can exist on a network. These slave servers collect a copy of the entire data base or a part of it from the master server. The master server can also "push" a copy of the data base to all slave servers at any time. NIS clients contact the master NIS server for any type of data required. If the master server is not available, a slave server may also be contacted. Both NIS servers and clients run daemon programs used for communicating among master, slave, and clients .

NIS was formerly known as Yellow Pages (yp), and most of the commands used in the NIS system start with "yp." NIS is bundled with the standard HP-UX distribution and is a part of the NFS product.

This chapter starts with an introduction to NIS, where NIS maps, NIS domains, and the role of different machines in an NIS domain will be discussed. The configuration part of NIS is divided into three parts .

• configuration of a master NIS server

• configuration of a slave NIS server

• configuration of an NIS client

All three types of hosts need one or more daemon processes and configuration files. During the process of configuration, these three parts will be discussed separately. After completing the configuration process, you will use some commands to verify the configuration.

You may be adding or removing some hosts from the network over a period of time. Similarly, users change passwords and configuration data may need to be updated. In the managing part of the chapter, you will learn how to update NIS maps on a master server and how to propagate these changes to slave servers. As another case, you may not want to allow all users present in NIS maps to have access to some machines on the network. For example, the master server may be made accessible only for the network administrator. Similarly, access to the data base server may be granted only to some users. Methods of providing selective access to NIS servers and clients will be discussed. In the last part of the chapter, SAM will be used to configure NIS.

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