The rpc.nisd daemon is an RPC service that implements the NIS+ service. This daemon must be running on all machines that serve a portion of the NIS+ namespace.

rpc.nisd is usually started from a system startup script.

The -B option causes rpc.nisd to start an auxiliary process, rpc.nisd_resolv, which provides ypserv compatible DNS forwarding for NIS host requests. rpc.nisd_resolv can also be started independently. See rpc.nisd_resolv(1M) for more information on using rpc.nisd_resolv independently.

The /etc/default/rpc.nisd file contains the following default parameter settings. See FILES.

ENABLE_NIS_YP_EMULATION

Specifies whether the server is put into NIS (YP) compatibility mode. ENABLE_NIS_YP_EMULATION=YES is equivalent to the -Y command-line option. The default value for ENABLE_NIS_YP_EMULATION is NO.

-A

Authentication verbose mode. The daemon logs all the authentication related activities to syslogd(1M) with LOG_INFO priority.

-B

Provide ypserv compatible DNS forwarding for NIS host requests. The DNS resolving process, rpc.nisd_resolv, is started and controlled by rpc.nisd. This option requires that the /etc/resolv.conf file be setup for communication with a DNS nameserver. The nslookup utility can be used to verify communication with a DNS nameserver. See resolv.conf(4) and nslookup(1M).

-C

Open diagnostic channel on /dev/console.

-D

Debug mode. Do not fork.

-d dictionary

Specify an alternate dictionary for the NIS+ database. The primary use of this option is for testing. Note that the string is not interpreted, rather it is simply passed to the db_initialize function.>

-F

Force the server to do a checkpoint of the database when it starts up. Forced checkpoints may be required when the server is low on disk space. This option removes updates from the transaction log that have propagated to all of the replicas.

-h

Print list of options.

-L number

Specify the ``load'' the NIS+ service is allowed to place on the server. The load is specified in terms of the number of child processes that the server may spawn. The value of number must be at least 1 for the callback functions to work correctly. The default is 128.

-m mappingfile

Specify the name of a configuration file that maps NIS+ objects (especially tables and columns) to LDAP (entries and attributes). See NIS+LDAPmapping(4). The default path is /var/nis. The default mapping file is NIS+LDAPmapping. If this file exists, the rpc.nisd daemon will map data to and from LDAP. A template mapping file that covers the normal NIS+ directories and tables is installed as /var/nis/NIS+LDAPmapping.template.

A NIS+ object must have a valid mapping entry in the mapping file in order to have data for that table read from or written to the LDAP repository.

The rpc.nisd(4) file contains specifications for LDAP server addresses, LDAP authentication method, and the like. See NIS+LDAPmapping(4) for an overview of the setup you need to map NIS+ data to or from LDAP.

-S level

Set the authorization security level of the service. The argument is a number between 0 and 2. By default, the daemon runs at security level 2.

0

Security level 0 is designed to be used for testing and initial setup of the NIS+ namespace. When running at level 0, the daemon does not enforce any access controls. Any client is allowed to perform any operation, including updates and deletions.

1

At security level 1, the daemon accepts both AUTH_SYS and AUTH_DES credentials for authenticating clients and authorizing them to perform NIS+ operations. This is not a secure mode of operation since AUTH_SYS credentials are easily forged. It should not be used on networks in which any untrusted users may potentially have access.

2

At security level 2, the daemon only accepts authentication using the security mechanisms configured by nisauthconf(1M). The default security mechanism is AUTH_DES. Security level 2 is the default if the -S option is not used.

-t netid

Use netid as the transport for communication between rpc.nisd and rpc.nisd_resolv. The default transport is ticots(7D) ( tcp on SunOS 4.x systems).

-v

Verbose. With this option, the daemon sends a running narration of what it is doing to the syslog daemon (see syslogd(1M)) at LOG_INFO priority. This option is most useful for debugging problems with the service. See also -A option.

-x attribute=value

Specify the value of the named attribute. Attributes that control the NIS+ to LDAP mapping operation are derived as follows:

1. Retrieve from LDAP.
2. Override with values from the mappingfile, if any. See the -m option.
3. Override with values from the command line -x options.

See NIS+LDAPmapping(4) and rpc.nisd(4) for the recognized attributes and their syntax.

As a special case, you can use the nisplusLdapConfig* attributes to derive additional information from LDAP. You can only specify the nisplusLdapConfig* attributes in rpc.nisd(4) or by means of the command line.

-Y

Put the server into NIS (YP) compatibility mode. When operating in this mode, the NIS+ server will respond to NIS Version 2 requests using the version 2 protocol. Because the YP protocol is not authenticated, only those items that have read access to nobody (the unauthenticated request) will be visible through the V2 protocol. It supports only the standard Version 2 maps in this mode (see -B option and NOTES in ypfiles(4)). See FILES.

-z number

Specify the maximum RPC record size that can be used over connection oriented transports. The default is 9000 bytes. If you specify a size less than the default value, the default value will be used instead.

NETPATH

The transports that the NIS+ service will use can be limited by setting this environment variable. See netconfig(4).

/var/nis/data/parent.object

This file describes the namespace that is logically above the NIS+ namespace. The most common type of parent object is a DNS object. This object contains contact information for a server of that domain.

/var/nis/data/root.object

This file describes the root object of the NIS+ namespace. It is a standard XDR-encoded NIS+ directory object that can be modified by authorized clients using the nis_modify(3NSL) interface.

/etc/init.d/rpc

Initialization script for NIS+.

/etc/default/rpc.nisd

LDAP connection and general rpc.nisd configuration. You can override some of the settings by command-line options.

/var/nis/NIS+LDAPmapping

Default path for LDAP mapping file. See the discussion of the -m option.

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

nis_cachemgr(1M), nisauthconf(1M), nisinit(1M), nissetup(1M), nisldapmaptest(1M), nslookup(1M), rpc.nisd_resolv(1M), rpc.nispasswdd(1M), syslogd(1M), nis_modify(3NSL), NIS+LDAPmapping(4), netconfig(4), nisfiles(4), resolv.conf(4), rpc.nisd(4), ypfiles(4), attributes(5), ticots(7D)

NIS+ might not be supported in future releases of the Solaris Operating Environment. Tools to aid the migration from NIS+ to LDAP are available in the Solaris 9 operating environment. For more information, visit http://www.sun.com/directory/nisplus/transition.html.