1nisfiles(4) File Formats nisfiles(4)
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6 nisfiles - NIS+ database files and directory structure
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9 /var/nis
10
13 The Network Information Service Plus (NIS+) uses a memory based, repli‐
14 cated database. This database uses a set of files in the /var/nis
15 directory for checkpointing to table storage and for maintaining a
16 transaction log. Additionally, the NIS+ server and client use files in
17 this directory to store binding and state information.
18 The NIS+ service implements an authentication and authorization system
21 that is built upon Secure RPC. In this implementation, the service uses
22 a table named cred.org_dir.domain-name to store the public and private
23 keys of principals that are authorized to access the NIS+ namespace. It
24 stores group access information in the subdomain groups_dir.domain-name
25 as group objects. These two tables appear as files in the /var/nis/data
26 directory on the NIS+ server.
27 Unlike the previous versions of the network information service, in
30 NIS+, the information in the tables is initially loaded into the ser‐
31 vice from the ASCII files on the server and then updated using NIS+
32 utilities. See nistbladm(1). Some sites may wish to periodically regen‐
33 erate the ASCII files for archival purposes. To do this, a script
34 should be added in the crontab(1) of the server that lists these tables
35 and creates the ASCII file from the result.
36 Note that except for the NIS_COLDSTART and NIS_SHARED_DIRCACHE file, no
39 other files should be manipulated by commands such as cp(1), mv(1) or
40 rm(1). The transaction log file keeps logs of all changes made, and
41 hence the files cannot be manipulated independently.
42 The files described below are stored in the /var/nis directory:
45 NIS_COLDSTART Contains NIS+ directory objects that are to be
47 preloaded into the NIS+ cache at startup time.
48 This file is usually created at NIS+ installa‐
49 tion time. See nisinit(1M) or nisclient(1M).
50 NIS_SHARED_DIRCACHE Contains the current cache of NIS+ bindings
53 being maintained by the cache manager. The con‐
54 tents can be viewed with nisshowcache(1M).
55 client_info Contains configuration information, for example,
58 preferred servers, options, and the like, for
59 nis_cachemgr(1M) and potentially other NIS+
60 clients on the system. It is manipulated by the
61 nisprefadm(1M) command.
62 .pref_servers A cached copy of preferred server information.
65 It is maintained by nis_cachemgr. Do not edit
66 this file manually.
67 trans.log Contains a transaction log that is maintained by
70 the NIS+ service. It can be viewed using the
71 nislog(1M) command. This file contains holes.
72 Its apparent size may be a lot higher than its
73 actual size. There is only one transaction log
74 per server.
75 data.dict A dictionary that is used by the NIS+ database
78 to locate its files. It is created by the
79 default NIS+ database package.
80 data.dict.log The log file for the database dictionary. When
83 the server is checkpointed, this file will be
84 deleted. See the discussion of the -C option of
85 nisping(1M).
86 data Contains databases that the server uses.
89 data/root.object On root servers, this file contains a directory
92 object that describes the root of the name
93 space.
94 data/parent.object On root servers, this file contains a directory
97 object that describes the parent namespace. This
98 file is created by the nisinit(1M) command.
99 data/table_name For each table in the directory there is a file
102 with the same name that stores the information
103 about that table. If there are subdirectories
104 within this directory, the database for the ta‐
105 ble is stored in the file, table_name.subdirec‐
106 tory.
107 data/table_name.log Contains the database log for the table ta‐
110 ble_name. The log file maintains the state of
111 individual transactions to each database. When a
112 database has been checkpointed, that is, all
113 changes have been made to the data/table_name
114 stable storage, this log file will be deleted.
115 Currently, NIS+ does not automatically do check‐
117 pointing. The system administrator may want to
118 do nisping-C operations periodically, perhaps
119 once a day, to checkpoint the log file. This can
120 be done either through a cron(1M) job, or manu‐
121 ally.
122 data/root_dir On root servers, this file stores the database
125 associated with the root directory. It is simi‐
126 lar to other table databases. The corresponding
127 log file is called root_dir.log.
128 data/cred.org_dir Table containing the credentials of principals
131 in this NIS+ domain.
132 data/groups_dir Table containing the group authorization objects
135 needed by NIS+ to authorize group access.
136 data/serving_list Contains a list of all NIS+ directories that are
139 being served by the NIS+ server on this server.
140 When this server is added or deleted from any
141 NIS+ directory object, this file is updated by
142 the server.
143
146 cp(1), crontab(1), mv(1), nis(1), nis_cachemgr(1M), niscat(1), nis‐
147 match(1), nistbladm(1), rm(1), cron(1M), nisclient(1M), nisinit(1M),
148 nislog(1M), nisping(1M), nisprefadm(1M), nisshowcache(1M),
149 nis_objects(3NSL)
150
152 NIS+ might not be supported in future releases of the Solaris Operating
153 system. Tools to aid the migration from NIS+ to LDAP are available in
154 the current Solaris release. For more information, visit
155 http://www.sun.com/directory/nisplus/transition.html.
156SunOS 5.11 18 Dec 2001 nisfiles(4)