Assumptions
I am assuming that we have two networks linked with a vpn connection (net1: 10.99.0.0/24 and net2: 10.34.132.0/24). Also I am assuming that on net1 is a functional NIS master server.
NIS MASTER: nis1.test.org 10.99.0.10
NIS SERVER: nis2.test.org 10.34.132.195
How to setup a NIS client
If you put a servername in /etc/yp.conf, make sure the server is also in /etc/hosts. Otherwise if your system boots and the network is not yet up or DNS isn't reachable, ypserv cannot resolve the servers in /etc/yp.conf and will hang!
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vim /etc/hosts
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10.99.0.10 nis1.test.org nis1
Install the netbase, portmap and nis packages
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apt-get install nis
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Configure NIS servers
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vim /etc/yp.conf
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domain test-auth server nis1.test.org
Make domain binding persistent
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vim /etc/defaultdomain
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test-auth
Setup 'running' domain
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nisdomainname test-auth
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Update local maps search rules
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vim /etc/nsswitch.conf
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passwd: db files compat nis
group: db files compat nis
shadow: db files compat nis
netgroup: nis
Restart NIS services
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/etc/init.d/nis stop /etc/init.d/nis start
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Make the auth process query NIS
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vim /etc/passwd
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+@gods::0:0:::
+::0:0:::/bin/false
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vim /etc/group
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+:::
Test NIS client setup
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id user ypwhich
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Setup a NIS server slave
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vim /etc/default/nis :%s/NISSERVER=false/NISSERVER=slave :%s/YPPWDDIR=\/etc/YPPWDDIR=\/etc\/yp :%s/NISMASTER=/NISMASTER=nis1.test.org :wq
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Restart NIS server
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/etc/init.d/nis stop /etc/init.d/nis start
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Links:
http://lyre.mit.edu/~powell/debian-howto/nis.html
http://www.server-world.info/en/note?os=Debian_6.0&p=nis
http://www.linuxhelp.in/2010/05/how-to-install-and-configure-nis-server.html