Chapter 5. Introducing the NIS+ Environment

NIS+ is a network information service that was introduced with the first Solaris release. NIS+ is a repository of administrative information, the foundation for the Solaris Management Console applications, and a storage place for network resource information that users can access without knowing the specific location of the resource. NIS+ is a component of ONC+™ (Open Network Computing Plus). ONC+ consists of a set of new and enhanced core services for enterprise-wide distributed computing. ONC+ services—including NIS+, TI-RPC (transport-independent RPC), and enhanced NFS—are completely compatible and will interoperate with the installed base of ONC services, including NFS, NIS, and RPC services. NIS+, which replaces NIS, is compatible with it. When run in compatibility mode, NIS+ serves NIS requests as well as NIS+ requests. NIS+ is designed to manage resources for distributed systems, make it easier to administer in complex organizations, and provide more security than was possible with NIS.

The main function of NIS+ is to simplify system and network administration, including tasks such as adding and relocating systems and users. A second function is to act as directory assistance for the network by enabling users and applications to easily find other network entities. For example, when using NIS+, you can easily locate other users and resources in the corporate network, regardless of the actual physical location of the entity.

One important benefit of NIS+ is scalability: NIS+ simplifies the administration of both small and large networks. As organizations grow and decentralize, NIS+ continues to provide administrative efficiency. Another key enhancement in NIS+ is update performance. Changes made to the NIS+ information base are automatically and instantaneously propagated to replica servers across the network. You can perform tasks such as adding new systems and users much more rapidly than with NIS. NIS+ provides improved security over NIS. NIS+ enables you to flexibly control access to network resources by preventing unauthorized sources from reading, changing, or destroying nameservice information.

This chapter describes the differences between NIS and NIS+; how NIS+ information is organized, stored, and distributed; how NIS+ security mechanisms work; and how NIS+ information is updated. It also describes the nameservice switch file and introduces the NIS+ commands. Chapter 6, “Setting Up NIS+ Servers and Clients,” describes how to use the nisserver(1M), nispopulate(1M), and nisclient(1M) NIS+ scripts to set up basic NIS+ root master server and NIS+ client system. Describing NIS+ completely and providing installation and setup instructions for master and replica servers are beyond the scope of this book.