You can use nisbackup and nisrestore to quickly replace a machine that you are using as a server with another machine. For example, you want to improve network performance by replacing an older server with a newer, faster machine.

To replace a machine being used as an NIS+ server with another machine, you must:

Assign the new machine the same IP address as the older machine it is replacing.
Assign the new machine the same machine name as the older machine it is replacing.
Connect the new machine to the same subnet as the older machine it is replacing.

To replace a server machine, follow these steps:

How to Replace NIS+ Server Machines

Run nisbackup on the master server for the domain that the old server serves.
See Backing Up an Entire NIS+ Namespace. (Note that the old server you are replacing could be the master server for the domain, in which case you would run nisbackup on this old master server.)
Copy the old server's /var/nis/NIS_COLD_START file to the backup directory.
Copy the old server's /etc/.rootkey file to the backup directory.
Disconnect the old server from the network.
Connect the new server to the network.
Assign the new server the same IP address (number) as the old server.
Assign the new server the same machine name as the old server.
If necessary, stop the NIS+ service on the new server.
Run nisrestore on the new server to down load the NIS+ data.
See Restoring Your NIS+ Namespace With nisrestore.
Copy the .rootkey file from the backup directory to /etc on the new server.
Copy the NIS_COLD_START file from the backup directory to /var/nis on the new server.
Reboot the new server.

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	System Administration Guide: Naming and Directory Services (NIS+)