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Because NIS+ uses a completely different way to propagate new information, no NIS+ equivalents to the ypbind, ypwhich, ypxfr, and ypset NIS commands exist.

Refer to Chapter 6 for examples of how to use NIS+ commands to set up an NIS+ client. Refer to Chapter 8 for examples of how to use NIS+ commands to administer automount maps.

For some NIS+ commands, such as nistbladm -m (used to modify a specific entry in an existing entry), you must identify information in the table by using a format called an indexed name. An indexed name uses this syntax:

’[column=value,column=value]’table-name.directory-name

You must include the indexed name in single quotes () to prevent the shell from interpreting the information between the square brackets as wild-card characters for expansion.


NOTE:  The old NIS+ manual pages incorrectly show a comma after the final bracket and before the table name.

For example, if you want to change only one column for an existing entry, you can use the nistbladm -m command. To change just the IP address for a system in the hosts table, first you specify the new IP address you want, then you provide an indexed name for the current entry. In the following example, the IP address for cinderella is changed from 129.144.52.75 to 129.144.52.80.

oak% nistbladm -m addr=129.144.52.8Ø ’[addr=129.144.52.75]’hosts.org_dir
oak%

Table Information Display

This section describes several ways that you can use NIS+ commands to display information about table objects and view the contents of the tables.

The NIS+ commands require either a directory name or a fully qualified name to follow the name of the table in the argument. The fully qualified name is the name of the table, followed by the directory where the NIS+ tables are stored and the domain name, respectively.


NOTE:  With NIS+ commands, a fully qualified name has a period at the end of the domain name. For example, auto_master.org_dir.Sun.COM. is the fully qualified name for the auto_master table, which is in the directory org_dir in the domain Sun.COM.

If you use the name of the table only, the NIS+ commands use the information from the NIS+ NIS_PATH environment variable to complete the name. You set the NIS_PATH environment variable just as you set any other shell environment variable—from a shell for the current session, or in the user’s .cshrc file (C shell) or .profile file (Bourne or Korn shell). For example, to set the NIS_PATH environment variable to org_dir.ESG.Eng.Sun.COM for the C shell, type setenv NIS_PATH org_dir.ESG.Eng.Sun.COM and press Return. The examples in this chapter assume that the NIS_PATH environment variable is set; only the directory name for each command is used.

You can display the contents of the org_dir directory using the nisls command. When you type nisls directory-name, the directory and domain name are displayed followed by a list of the contents of the directory. In the following example, the client is in the domain esg.eng.sun.com.:

oak% nisls org_dir
org_dir.esg.eng.sun.com.:
auto_home
auto_master
bootparams
cred
ethers
group
hosts
mail_aliases
sendmailvars
netgroup
netmasks
networks
passwd
protocols
rpc
services
timezone
oak%

The nisls -l command displays a long listing of the contents of the directory. In the next example, the client is in the domain esg.eng.sun.com. The T in the left column identifies each entry as a table object. The second column displays the access rights for the table; the third column displays the owner of the table; the fourth through eighth columns display the date the tables were created; and the ninth column displays the name of the table.


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