The ypbind process can be forced to bind to a specific NIS server by specifing the server in /etc/rc.conf. For more info see the manual page for ypbind(8).
If the system cam resolv the hostnames without NIS, you may use the name, otherwise you have to use the IP address. ypbind 3.3 has a bug and will only use the last entry (ypserver ds9 in the example). All other entries are ignored. ypbind-mt handle this correct and uses that one, which answerd at first.
It might be a good idea to test ypbind before incorporating it in the startup files. To test ypbind do the following:
/bin/domainname nis.domain
where nis.domain
should be some string _NOT_ normally
associated with the DNS-domain name of your machine! The reason for
this is that it makes it a little harder for external crackers
to retreive the password database from your NIS servers. If you
don't know what the NIS domain name is on your network, ask
your system/network administrator.
program vers proto port
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper
100007 2 udp 637 ypbind
100007 2 tcp 639 ypbind
or
program vers proto port
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper
100007 2 udp 758 ypbind
100007 1 udp 758 ypbind
100007 2 tcp 761 ypbind
100007 1 tcp 761 ypbind
Depending on the ypbind version you are using.
program 100007 version 2 ready and waiting
or
program 100007 version 1 ready and waiting
program 100007 version 2 ready and waiting
The output depends on the ypbind version you have installed.
Important is only the "version 2" message.At this point you should be able to use NIS client programs like ypcat, etc... For example, "ypcat passwd.byname" will give you the entire NIS password database.
IMPORTANT: If you skipped the test procedure then make sure you have set the domain name, and created the directory
/var/yp
This directory MUST exist for ypbind to start up succesfully.
If the test worked you may now want to change your startupd files so that ypbind will be started at boot time and your system will act as a NIS client. Make sure that the domainname will be set before you start ypbind.
Well, that's it. Reboot the machine and watch the boot messages to see if ypbind is actually started.