1 - 3 IT Essentials II v2.0 - Lab 5.3.5 Copyright  2002, Cisco Systems, Inc. Lab 5.3.5: Configuring Linux as an NIS Client Estimated Time: 30 minutes Objective To configure a Linux Red Hat system as an NIS server and client. Equipment • A computer with Linux Red Hat 7.X installed. Scenario The system administrator of a large company has been asked to enable some computer systems to share information, including a common set of user accounts, user groups, and TCP/IP hostnames. In order to centralize the administrative efforts involved, the administrator decides to configure a Linux Red Hat system as an NIS server to manage the database. The administrator also configures the employees’ computer systems as NIS clients. Procedures Setting up a Linux system as an NIS client To configure a Linux system as an NIS master server, first configure the system as an NIS client. Use the following steps to configure a Linux system as an NIS client. Step 1 Log in as the root user. Step 2 When setting up an NIS client, first get the NIS domain name, NIS master server name, and the NIS slave server names. In a true running network, these might already be configured. However, for the purposes of this lab, the names will be invented. Step 3 Since there is no NIS domain name, one must be defined. To do so, type domainname Ciscotest at the shell prompt. 2 - 3 IT Essentials II v2.0 - Lab 5.3.5 Copyright  2002, Cisco Systems, Inc. Step 4 This command will set the NIS domain name to Ciscotest. To verify the NIS domain name, type domainname at the shell prompt. Step 5 This command will only set the NIS domain name temporarily. When the system is rebooted, this information will be erased unless the system is configured to run this command every time the system boots up. There are many methods that can be used to force a Linux system to run commands upon startup. Many of these commands have already been learned or will be learned in this course. One easy method is to edit the /etc/init.d/network file by using the following steps: 1. First, type vi /etc/init.d/network at the shell prompt to view the /etc/init.d/network file so the system is configured properly. 2. After opening the file, press the i key to enter insert mode. Use the arrow keys to navigate to the ninth line and enter the following text: # Set the NIS domain name. domainname Ciscotest Next, press the Esc key to close this file and return to the shell prompt. Then type :wq, and press the Enter key. Step 6 Set up the /etc/yp.conf file. To work properly, the ypbind daemon needs to know the NIS domain name and the names of the NIS servers. The ypbind daemon is the process that runs the NIS service on the system. This information is contained in the /etc/yp.conf file. Therefore, the file needs to be edited with the proper information. To edit this file, first open it by entering vi /etc/yp.conf at the shell prompt. Step 7 The vi editor should now be open with the contents of the /etc/yp.conf file in view. As in the previous step, enter insert mode to make the proper configuration change. Once insert mode has been entered, navigate to the bottom of the text and enter the following: domain Ciscotest server Phoenix1 This will define the name of the NIS master server. If the network consisted of NIS slave servers, they would be entered directly below this text . Enter the following text in this file: domain Ciscotest server Phoenix1 domain Ciscotest server Tempe1 domain Ciscotest server Scottsdale1 Now close this file and return to the shell prompt. Do this by pressing the Esc key. Then type :wq and press the Enter key. Step 8 To run NIS as a client, start the ypbind and ypwhich daemons. The ypbind daemon performs two functions, the master and the slave functions. The master process handles requests for information from the NIS server and the slave process checks the bindings. 3 - 3 IT Essentials II v2.0 - Lab 5.3.5 Copyright  2002, Cisco Systems, Inc. The ypwhich daemon finds the NIS server. Starting these daemons and configuring them to run automatically every time the system is booted up is fairly simple. To do this, type /sbin/chkconfig ypbind on at the shell prompt. There are other ways to accomplish this, but this may be the easiest way. Step 9 At this point, the Linux system should be setup to run as an NIS client. If this system was connecting to an actual NIS server, the ypwhich and ypcat hosts commands could be used to test connectivity. However, since this system is not connecting to an NIS server, these commands will return error messages. Reflection Configuring a Linux system can be very useful. What are some circumstances in which using NIS might be beneficial? When would using NIS not be beneficial? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ . Setting up a Linux system as an NIS client To configure a Linux system as an NIS master server, first configure the system as an NIS client. Use the following. 5.3.5: Configuring Linux as an NIS Client Estimated Time: 30 minutes Objective To configure a Linux Red Hat system as an NIS server and client.