The nis_cachemgr Command

The nis_cachemgr command starts the NIS+ cache manager program, which should run on all NIS+ clients. The cache manager maintains a cache of location information about the NIS+ servers that support the most frequently used directories in the namespace, including transport addresses, authentication information, and a time-to-live value.

At start-up the cache manager obtains its initial information from the client's cold-start file, and downloads it into the /var/nis/NIS_SHARED_DIRCACHE file.

The cache manager makes requests as a client workstation. Make sure the client workstation has the proper credentials, or instead of improving performance, the cache manager will degrade it.

Starting and Stopping the Cache Manager

To start the cache manager, enter the nis_cachemgr command (with or without the -i option):

client% nis_cachemgr
client% nis_cachemgr -i

Without the -i option, the cache manager is restarted but it retains the information in the /var/nis/NIS_SHARED_DIRCACHE file. The information in the cold-start file is simply appended to the existing information in the file. The -i option clears the cache file and re-initializes it from the contents of the client's cold-start file.

To stop the cache manager, kill it as you would any other process.