Configuring the Client

This section describes how to configure a typical NIS+ client in either the root domain or a non-root domain. This procedure applies to regular NIS+ clients and to those clients that will later become NIS+ servers. It applies, as well, to clients in a standard NIS+ domain and those in an NIS-compatible domain.

Domains and hosts should not have the same name. For example, if you have a sales domain you should not have a machine named sales. Similarly, if you have a machine named home, you do not want to create a domain named home. This caution applies to subdomains; for example, if you have a machine named west you do not want to create a sales.west.myco.com subdomain.

Setting up an NIS+ client involves the following tasks:

• Creating credentials for the client

• Preparing the workstation

• Initializing the workstation as an NIS+ client.

However, as with setting up the root domain, setting up a client is not as simple as carrying out these three tasks in order. To make the configuration process easier to execute, these tasks have been broken down into individual steps, and the steps have been arranged in the most efficient order:

1. Logging in to the domain's master server

2. Creating DES credentials for the new client workstation

3. Ascertaining the Diffie-Hellman key length used on the master server

4. Logging in as superuser to the client

5. Assigning the client its new domain name

6. Stopping and restarting nscd

7. Checking the client's nsswitch.conf file

8. Setting the client's Diffie-Hellman key

9. Cleaning out leftover NIS+ material and processes

10. Initializing the client

11. Killing and restarting the keyserv daemon

12. Running keylogin

13. Rebooting the client

Security Considerations

Setting up a client has two main security requirements: both the administrator and the client must have the proper credentials and access rights. Otherwise, the only way for a client to obtain credentials in a domain running at security level 2 is for the credentials to be created by an administrator with valid DES credentials and modify rights to the cred table in the client's home domain. The administrator can either have DES credentials in the client's home domain or in the administrator's home domain.

After an administrator creates the client's credentials, the client can complete the configuration process. However, the client still needs read access to the directory object of its home domain. If you configured the client's home domain according to the instructions in either Chapter 5, Setting Up the Root Domain or Chapter 8, Configuring a Non-root Domain, read access was provided to the world class by the NIS+ commands used to create the directory objects (nisinit and nismkdir, respectively).

You can check the directory object's access rights by using the niscat-o command. This command displays the properties of the directory, including its access rights:

rootmaster# niscat -o doc.com.
ObjectName : Doc
Owner : rootmaster.doc.com.
Group : admin.doc.com.
Domain : Com.
Access Rights : r---rmcdr---r---

You can change the directory object's access rights, provided you have modify rights to it yourself, by using the nischmod command, described in the rights chapter of Solaris Naming Administration Guide.

Prerequisites

The administrator setting up the client's credentials must have:

• A valid DES credential

• Modify rights to the cred table in the client's home domain

The client must have:

• Read rights to the directory object of its home domain

• The client's home domain must already be configured and running NIS+

• An entry in either the master server's /etc/hosts file or in its domain's hosts table

• A unique machine name that does duplicate any user ID

• A machine name that does not contain any dots. (For example, a machine named sales.alpha is not allowed; a machine named sales-alpha is allowed.)

Information You Need

• The name of the client's home domain

• The superuser password of the workstation that will become the client

• The IP address of an NIS+ server in the client's home domain

Configuring the Client--Task Map

How to Configure an NIS+ Client

1. Log into the domain's master server.

   You can log in as superuser or as yourself, depending on which NIS+ principal has the proper access rights to add credentials to the domain's cred table.

2. Create DES credentials for the new client workstation.

   Use the nisaddcred command with the -p and -P arguments. Here is the syntax:

   nisaddcred -p secure-RPC-netname principal-name des [domain]

   The secure-RPC-netname consists of the prefix unix followed by the client's host name, the symbol @ and the client's domain name, but without a trailing dot. The principal-name consists of the client's host name and domain name, with a trailing dot. If the client belongs to a different domain than the server from which you enter the command, append the client's domain name after the second argument.

   This example adds a DES credential for a client workstation named client1 in the doc.com. domain:

   rootmaster% nisaddcred -p unix.client1@doc.com -P client1.doc.com. des Adding key pair for unix.client1@doc.com (client1.doc.com.). Enter client1.doc.com.'s root login passwd: Retype password:

   For more information about the nisaddcred command, see the credentials chapter of the Solaris Naming Administration Guide.

3. Ascertain the Diffie-Hellman key length used on the master server.

   For example:

   rootmaster% nisauthconf dh640-0 des

4. Log in as superuser to the client.

   Now that the client workstation has credentials, you can log out of the master server and begin working from the client itself. You can do this locally or remotely.

5. Assign the client its new domain name.

   See "Changing a Workstation's Domain Name" for information on how to assign (or change) a client's domain name, then return to Step 6.

6. Check the client's nsswitch.conf file.

   Make sure the client is using a NIS+ version of the nsswitch.conf file. This ensures that the primary source of information for the client will be NIS+ tables. See "Default NIS+ Version of Switch File" for a description of a NIS+ switch file.

7. If you made any changes to the nsswitch.conf file (or copied over a new file), you must now stop and restart nscd, as shown below.

   client1# cp /etc/nsswitch.nisplus /etc/nsswitch.conf client1# sh /etc/init.d/nscd stop client1# sh /etc/init.d/nscd start

   (Although the instructions in Chapter 1, Setting Up the Name Service Switch tell you to kill and restart the keyserver at this point, you do not need to do that here, since you will do so in Step 11.)

8. Set the Diffie-Hellman key length on the client, using the information from step 3.

   For example:

   client# nisauthconf dh640-0 des

9. Clean out leftover NIS+ material and processes.

   If the workstation you are working on was previously used as an NIS+ server or client, remove any files that might exist in /var/nis and kill the cache manager, if it is still running. In this example, a cold-start file and a directory cache file still exist in /var/nis.

   client1# ls /var/nis NIS_COLD_START NIS_SHARED_CACHE client1# rm -rf /var/nis/* client1# ps -ef | grep nis_cachemgr root 295 260 10 15:26:58 pts/0 0:00 grep nis_cachemgr root 286 1 57 15:21:55 ? 0:01 /usr/sbin/nis_cachemgr client1# kill -9 286

   This step makes sure that files left in /var/nis or directory objects stored by the cache manager are completely erased so that they do not conflict with the new information generated during this configuration process. If you have stored any admin scripts in /var/nis, you might want to consider temporarily storing them elsewhere, until you finish setting up the root domain.

10. Initialize the client.

    You can initialize a client in three different ways: by host name, by cold-start file, or by broadcast. Choose and perform one of those methods. After initializing the client, proceed with Step 11.

11. Kill and restart the keyserv daemon.

    This step stores the client's secret key on the keyserver.

    1. Kill the keyserv daemon.

       This also has the side effect of updating the key server's switch information about the client.

    2. Remove the /etc/.rootkey file.

    3. Restart the keyserver.

       This example shows the complete procedure in Step 11.

       client1# ps -e | grep keyserv root 145 1 67 16:34:44 ? keyserv client1# kill 145 client1# rm -f /etc/.rootkey client1# keyserv

    4. Run keylogin-r.

       This step stores the client's secret key with the keyserver. It also saves a copy in /etc/.rootkey, so that the superuser on the client does not have to run keylogin to use NIS+. Use keylogin with the -r option. When prompted for a password, type the client's superuser password. It must be the same as the password supplied to create the client's DES credentials:

       client1# keylogin -r Password: Wrote secret key into /etc/.rootkey

    5. Reboot the client.