nisinit(1M) Maintenance Commands nisinit(1M)
NAME
nisinit - NIS+ client and server initialization utility
SYNOPSIS
nisinit -r
nisinit -p Y|D|N parent_domain host...
nisinit -c -H host | -B | -C coldstart
AVAILABILITY
SUNWnisu
DESCRIPTION
nisinit initializes a machine to be a NIS+ client or an NIS+
root master server. It may be easier to use nisclient(1M)
or nisserver(1M) to accomplish this same task.
OPTIONS
-r Initialize the machine to be a NIS+ root server. This
option creates the file /var/nis/root.object and ini-
tialize it to contain information about this machine.
It uses the sysinfo(2) system call to retrieve the name
of the default domain.
To initialize the machine as an NIS+ root server, it is
advisable to use the -r option of nisserver(1M),
instead of using "nisinit -r".
-p Y | D | N parent_domain host ...
This option is used on a root server to initialize a
/var/nis/parent.object to make this domain a part of
the namespace above it. Only root servers can have
parent objects. A parent object describes the
namespace ``above'' the NIS+ root. If this is an iso-
lated domain, this option should not be used. The
argument to this option tells the command what type of
name server is serving the domain above the NIS+
domain. When clients attempt to resolve a name that is
outside of the NIS+ namespace, this object is returned
with the error NIS_FOREIGNNS indicating that a name
space boundary has been reached. It is up to the client
to continue the name resolution process.
The parameter parent_domain is the name of the parent
domain in a syntax that is native to that type of
domain. The list of host names that follow the domain
parameter are the names of hosts that serve the parent
domain. If there is more than one server for a parent
domain, the first host specified should be the master
server for that domain.
Y The ``Y'' argument specifies that the parent
directory is a NIS version 2 domain.
D The ``D'' argument specifies that the parent
directory is a DNS domain.
N The ``N'' argument specifies that the parent
directory is another NIS+ domain. This option is
useful for connecting a pre-existing NIS+ subtree
into the global namespace.
Note: In the current implementation, the NIS+ clients
do not take advantage of the -p feature. Also, since
the parent object is currently not replicated on root
replica servers, it is reccommended that this option
not be used.
-c This option initializes the machine to be a NIS+
client. There are three initialization options avail-
able: initialize by coldstart, initialize by hostname,
and initialize by broadcast. The most secure mechanism
is to initialize from a trusted coldstart file. The
second option is to initialize using a hostname that
you specify as a trusted host. The third method is to
initialize by broadcast and it is the least secure
method.
-C coldstart
This option causes the file coldstart to be used
as a prototype coldstart file when initializing a
NIS+ client. This coldstart file can be copied
from a machine that is already a client of the
NIS+ namespace. For maximum security, an adminis-
trator can encrypt and encode (with uuencode(1C))
the coldstart file and mail it to an administrator
bringing up a new machine. The new administrator
would then decode (with uudecode), decrypt, and
then use this file with the nisinit command to
initialize the machine as an NIS+ client. If the
coldstart file is from another client in the same
domain, the nisinit command may be safely skipped
and the file copied into the /var/nis directory as
/var/nis/NIS_COLD_START.
-H hostname
This option specifies that the host hostname
should be contacted as a trusted NIS+ server. The
nisinit command will iterate over each transport
in the NETPATH environment variable and attempt to
contact rpcbind(1M) on that machine. This host-
name must be reachable from the client without the
name service running. For IP networks this means
that there must be an entry in /etc/hosts for this
host when nisinit is invoked.
-B This option specifies that the nisinit command
should use an IP broadcast to locate a NIS+ server
on the local subnet. Any machine that is running
the NIS+ service may answer. No guarantees are
made that the server that answers is a server of
the organization's namespace. If this option is
used, it is advisable to check with your system
administrator that the server and domain served
are valid. The binding information can be dumped
to the standard output using the nisshowcache(1M)
command.
Note: nisinit -c will just enable navigation of the
NIS+ name space from this client. To make NIS+ your
name service, modify the file /etc/nsswitch.conf to
reflect that. See nsswitch.conf(4) for more details.
RETURN VALUES
nisinit returns 0 on success and 1 on failure.
EXAMPLES
This example initializes the machine as an NIS+ client using
the host freddy as a trusted server.
example# nisinit -cH freddy
This example sets up a client using a trusted coldstart
file.
example# nisinit -cC /tmp/colddata
This example sets up a client using an IP broadcast.
example# nisinit -cB
This example sets up a root server.
example# nisinit -r
ENVIRONMENT
NETPATH This environment variable may be set to the
transports to try when contacting the NIS+
server (see netconfig(4)). The client
library will only attempt to contact the
server using connection oriented transports.
FILES
/var/nis/NIS_COLD_START
This file contains a list of servers,
their transport addresses, and their
Secure RPC public keys that serve the
machine's default domain.
/var/nis/hostname/root.object
This file describes the root object of
the NIS+ namespace. It is a standard
XDR-encoded NIS+ directory object that
can be modified by authorized clients
using the nis_modify() interface.
/var/nis/hostname/parent.object
This file describes the namespace that
is logically above the NIS+ namespace.
The most common type of parent object is
a DNS object. This object contains con-
tact information for a server of that
domain.
/etc/hosts Internet host table.
SEE ALSO
nis+(1), uuencode(1C), nisclient(1M), nisserver(1M),
nisshowcache(1M), sysinfo(2), hosts(4), netconfig(4), nis-
files(4)
SunOS 5.4 Last change: 22 Feb 1993