Configuring NIS On RHEL5.5

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Configuring NIS on RHEL 5.5
setup procedure for NIS on RedHat Enterprise Linux 5.5. Includes some gotchas, and hopefully some references.

Contents

Introduction

Language

As with any technology, there are terms with specific meanings. Here is a list of the essentials:

domain
akin to the DNS domain, or Active directory domain, it is a collection of elements that make up the database (authentication ie users and passwords, ip addresses, services, mount points etc)
master
the root of all the domain information. Holds the definitive reference for the domain
slave
a node that can as far as clients are concerned satisfy the requirements of a master, but they in turn rely on the master to be the source of their domain database.
client
consumer of domain information. Usually authentication requests are made by clients, but in addition there are several data types that the domain can provide (ip addresses, services, mount points etc)
service
a reference to the job that a daemon carries out. Sometimes interchangeable with the word daemon (restart the service instead of restart the daemon)


Nodes

NIS is made up of the following node types:

  • Master
  • Slave
  • Client

The master is where all new users are created. It is THE SOURCE for the authentication of the domain.

The slave is a backup for the master. It carries a copy of the authentication database and handles some of the workload of authentication. New users are NOT created on this node type. In the event the master is unavailable then it continues to satisfy authentication requests. It should not be used for the creation of new userscitation needed.

The client is the consumer of authentication information and the generator of authentication requests.

Password updates are done in one of two places dependent on the layout of the domain:

  • master, no slave, <n> clients - yppasswd must be run on the master, not the slave or the client.
  • master, <m> slaves, <n> clients - yppasswd must be run on the slave or client, not master

Services

NIS comprises the following services (or daemons)

  • ypserv
  • yppasswdd
  • ypbind
  • ypxfrd

ypserv - the NIS server. Responds to requests for authentication yppasswdd - ? ypbind - used to connect to a ypserv daemon. This is the client part of the network and also runs on the servers (allowing them to update the domain authentication database)


Files

Following is a table listing the files concerned and the node types they are important to.

Filename Found on node types Parameters Notes
/etc/yp.conf
  • master
  • slave
  • client
  • for master & slave servers 
    domain <domain value> server <yp servername>
  • for clients 
    ypserver <yp servername>
 Defines where the servers are.
Master and slave nodes refer to themselves, clients refer to masters AND slaves
/etc/sysconfig/network
  • master
  • slave
  • client
 
NISDOMAIN
 Define domain name here, eg 
NISDOMAIN=tecniq.info
/etc/ypserv.conf
  • master
  • slave
 Specification of server here
/var/yp/securenets
  • master
  • slave
 List of networks allowed to use transfer daemon and server
/etc/hosts
  • master
  • slave
  • client
 lists servers & clients if DNS is not in use / does not contain the necessary information
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