System Administration Commands nisinit(1M)
NAME
nisinit - NIS] client and server initialization utility
SYNOPSIS
nisinit -r
nisinit -p Y D N parentdomain host...
nisinit -c [-k ] -H host -B -C coldstart
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/data/root.object and
initialize 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 parentdomain host ...
This option is used on a root server to initialize a
/var/nis/data/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 isolated 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
NISFOREIGNS indicating that a name space boundary has
been reached. It is up to the client to continue the
name resolution process.
The parameter parentdomain 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
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System Administration Commands nisinit(1M)
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 Specifies that the parent directory is a NIS ver-
sion 2 domain.
D Specifies that the parent directory is a DNS
domain.
N 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 that 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 recommended that this option
not be used.
-c
Initializes the machine to be a NIS] client. There are
three initialization options available: 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 Causes the file coldstart to be used as
a prototype coldstart file when initial-
izing 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 administrator
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
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System Administration Commands nisinit(1M)
into the /var/nis directory as
/var/nis/NISCOLDSTART.
-H hostname Specifies that the host hostname should
be contacted as a trusted NIS] server.
The nisinit command will iterate over
each transport in the NETPATH environ-
ment 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 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 that 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.
-k
This option specifies the domain where root's creden-
tials are stored. If it is not specified, then the sys-
tem default domain is assumed. This domain name is used
to create the /var/nis/NISCOLDSTART file.
RETURN VALUES
nisinit returns 0 on success and 1 on failure.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Initializing the Machine as an NIS] Client using
the Host freddy as a Trusted Server
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System Administration Commands nisinit(1M)
This example initializes the machine as an NIS] client using
the host freddy as a trusted server.
example# nisinit -cH freddy
Example 2 Setting up a Client using a Trusted Coldstart File
This example sets up a client using a trusted coldstart
file.
example# nisinit -cC /tmp/colddata
Example 3 Setting up a Client Using an IP Broadcast
This example sets up a client using an IP broadcast.
example# nisinit -cB
Example 4 Setting up a Root Server
This example sets up a root server.
example# nisinit -r
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
NETPATH This environment variable may be set to the tran-
sports 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/NISCOLDSTART
This file contains a list of servers, their transport
addresses, and their Secure RPC public keys that serve
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System Administration Commands nisinit(1M)
the machine's default domain.
/var/nis/data/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 nismodify() interface.
/var/nis/data/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 contact
information for a server of that domain.
/etc/hosts
Internet host table.
ATRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
ATRIBUTE TYPE ATRIBUTE VALUE
Availability SUNWnisu
SEE ALSO
NIS](1), uuencode(1C), nisclient(1M), nisserver(1M),
nisshowcache(1M), sysinfo (2), hosts(4), netconfig(4), nis-
files(4), attributes(5)
NOTES
NIS] might not be supported in future releases of the
Solaris operating system. Tools to aid the migration from
NIS] to LDAP are available in the current Solaris release.
For more information, visit
http:/www.sun.com/directory/nisplus/transition.html.
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