Domain Hierarchy - Solaris Release 2.6 and Earlier

In Solaris release 2.6 and earlier, the NIS+ servers for each subdomain are not part of the subdomain that they serve, with the exception of the root domain. The NIS+ servers are in the parent domain of the subdomain they serve. This relationship of server to subdomain creates problems for applications that expect the servers to be able to get their name-service data from the subdomain. For example, if a subdomain NIS+ server is also an NFS server, then the server does not get its netgroups information from the subdomain; instead, it retrieves the information from its domain, which is the domain above the subdomain; this can be confusing. Another example of when a hierarchy can cause problems is where the NIS+ server is also used by users to log in remotely and to execute certain commands that they cannot execute from their own workstations. If you have only a single root domain, you do not have these problems because NIS+ root servers live in the domain that they serve.