Become Familiar With NIS+

Familiarize yourself with NIS+, particularly with the concepts summarized earlier in this chapter and discussed in the remainder of this book. For details, see the publications listed in "Related Books".

One of the best ways to become familiar with NIS+ is to build a prototype namespace. There is no substitute for hands-on experience with the product; administrators need the opportunity to practice in a forgiving test environment.

Do not use your prototype domain as the basis for your actual running NIS+ namespace. Deleting your prototype after you have learned all you can from it will avoid namespace configuration problems. Start anew to create the real namespace after following all the planning steps.

When you create the test domains, make small, manageable domains. For guidance, you can use Solaris Naming Setup and Configuration Guide, which describes how to plan and create a simple test domain and subdomain (with or without NIS-compatibility mode), using the NIS+ setup scripts.

The NIS+ scripts described in Part I of Solaris Naming Setup and Configuration Guide are the recommended method for setting up an NIS+ namespace. The recommended procedure is to first set up your basic NIS+ namespace using the scripts, then customize that namespace for your particular needs, using the NIS+ command set.