About the NIS+ Scripts

The three NIS+ scripts--nisserver, nispopulate, and nisclient--enable you to set up a NIS+ namespace easily. The NIS+ scripts are Bourne shell scripts that execute groups of NIS+ commands so you don't have to type the NIS+ commands individually. Table 2-1 on page 14 describes what each script does.

Table 2-1

NIS+ Script	What It Does
nisserver	Sets up the root master, nonroot master and replica servers with level 2 security (DES)
nispopulate	Populates NIS+ tables in a specified domain from their corresponding system files or NIS maps
nisclient	Creates NIS+ credentials for hosts and users; initializes NIS+ hosts and users

What the NIS+ Scripts Will Do

In combination with a few NIS+ commands, you can use the NIS+ scripts to perform all the tasks necessary for setting up an NIS+ namespace. See the nisserver, nispopulate, and nisclient man pages for complete descriptions of these commands and their options. Chapter 3, "Setting Up NIS+ With Scripts," shows you how to use the NIS+ scripts to set up an NIS+ namespace.

You can run each of the scripts without having the commands execute by using the -x option. This option lets you see what commands the scripts call and their approximate output without the scripts actually changing anything on your systems. First running the scripts with -x may minimize unexpected surprises.

What the NIS+ Scripts Won't Do

While the NIS+ scripts reduce the effort required to create an NIS+ namespace, the scripts do not completely replace the individual NIS+ commands. The scripts only implement a subset of NIS+ features.

If you are unfamiliar with NIS+, you may wish to refer back to this section after you have created the sample NIS+ namespace.

The nisserver script will only set up an NIS+ server with the standard default tables and permissions (authorizations). This script does not:

• Set special permissions for tables and directories

• Add extra NIS+ principals to the NIS+ admin group

  See Chapter 3, "Setting Up NIS+ With Scripts," for how to use the nisgrpadm command instead of one of the NIS+ scripts to add extra NIS+ principals to the NIS+ admin group.

• Create private tables
• Run an NIS+ server at any security level other than level 2
• Start the rpc.nisd daemon on remote servers, which is required to complete server installation

  See Chapter 3, "Setting Up NIS+ With Scripts," for how to use the rpc.nisd command instead of one of the NIS+ scripts to change NIS+ client machines into nonroot servers.

The nisclient script does not set up an NIS+ client to resolve host names using DNS. You need to explicitly set DNS for clients that require this option.

See Part 2 for information on how to perform any of the above tasks with the NIS+ command set.