Prerequisites to Running nisserver

Before you can run nisserver to create a master server for a new non-root domain:

• The parent domain must already have been configured and its master server must be running.

• The parent domain's tables must be populated. (At a minimum, the hosts table must have an entry for the new client machine.)

• You must have initialized the new client machine in the parent domain.

• You must have started rpc.nisd on the client.

• You must have adequate permissions to add the new domain. In this case, you must be logged in as root on the parent master server. In this example, the parent master machine is named master1.

Information You Need

You need:

• A name for the new non-root domain--the name of the new domain includes the name of the parent domain with this syntax: newdomain.rootdomain.

• The client machine name (client2, in this example)

• The superuser password for the parent master server

In the following example, the new non-root domain is called sub.doc.com.

Any NIS+ client can be converted to an NIS+ master server as long as it is itself in a domain above the domain it is serving. For example, an NIS+ client in domain sales.doc.com can serve domains below it in the hierarchy, such as west.sales.doc.com or even alameda.west.sales.doc.com. This client cannot, however, serve the domain doc.com, because doc.com is above the domain sales.doc.com in the hierarchy. Root replicas are the only exception to this rule. They are clients of the domain that they serve.