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57 .Nd description of the YP/NIS system
63 subsystem allows network access to directory information hosted by
66 OS X support is provided through the functions
77 and other related functions.
80 servers are sent by the
85 clients is further described in the
91 subsystem is started automatically by
95 domain is specified in the
96 .Pa /etc/defaultdomain
100 exists (which it does in the default distribution).
105 client/server system that allows a group of
108 domain to share a common set of configuration files.
109 This permits a system
110 administrator to set up
112 client systems with only minimal configuration
113 data and add, remove or modify configuration data from a single location.
115 The canonical copies of all
117 information are stored on a single machine
120 .Em "master server" .
121 The databases used to store the information are called
127 support several domains at once, therefore it is possible to have several
128 such directories, one for each supported domain.
129 Each domain will have
130 its own independent set of maps.
140 There are three main types of
149 servers for information.
153 which maintain the canonical copies of all
159 which maintain backup copies of
161 maps that are periodically
162 updated by the master.
165 OS X systems may be configured as
167 clients, but not as master or slave servers.
171 client establishes what is called a
180 utility checks the system's default domain (as set by the
182 command) and begins broadcasting
184 requests on the local network.
185 These requests specify the name of the domain for which
187 is attempting to establish a binding.
188 If a server that has been
189 configured to serve the requested domain receives one of the broadcasts,
192 which will record the server's address.
193 If there are several servers
194 available (a master and several slaves, for example),
196 will use the address of the first one to respond.
198 on, the client system will direct all of its
200 requests to that server.
203 utility will occasionally
205 the server to make sure it is still up
207 If it fails to receive a reply to one of its pings
208 within a reasonable amount of time,
210 will mark the domain as unbound and begin broadcasting again in the
211 hopes of locating another server.
214 master and slave servers handle all
221 utility is responsible for receiving incoming requests from
224 translating the requested domain and map name to a path to the
225 corresponding database file and transmitting data from the database
227 There is a specific set of requests that
229 is designed to handle, most of which are implemented as functions
230 within the standard system libraries:
231 .Bl -tag -width ".Fn yp_master"
233 check the creation date of a particular map
235 obtain the name of the
237 master server for a given
240 lookup the data corresponding to a given in key in a particular
243 obtain the first key/data pair in a particular map/domain
247 a key in a particular map/domain and have it return the
248 key/data pair immediately following it (the functions
252 can be used to do a sequential search of an
256 retrieve the entire contents of a map
259 There are a few other requests which
261 is capable of handling (i.e., acknowledge whether or not you can handle
263 .Pq Dv YPPROC_DOMAIN ,
264 or acknowledge only if you can handle the domain and be silent otherwise
265 .Pq Dv YPPROC_DOMAIN_NONACK )
267 these requests are usually generated only by
269 and are not meant to be used by standard utilities.
273 subsystem was written from the ground up by
275 to be compatible to Sun's implementation.
276 Bug fixes, improvements
279 server support were later added by
281 The server-side code was originally written by
285 and is subject to the GNU Public License.
291 client software is derived from FreeBSD.