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

When NIS+ Server Preferences Take Effect

Changes you make to a machine or subnet's server preferences normally do not take effect on a given machine until that machine updates it nis_cachemgr data. When the nis_cachemgr of a machine updates its server-use information depends on whether the machine is obtaining its server preferences from a global client_info table or a local /var/nis/client_info file (see NIS+ Global Table or Local File).

However, you can force server preference changes to take effect immediately by running nisprefadm with the -F option. The -F option forces nis_cachemgr to immediately update its information. See Putting NIS+ Server Preferences Into Immediate Effect for details.