12. Surviving a Reboot

Once you have NIS correctly configured on the server and client, you do need to be sure that the configuration will survive a reboot.

There are two separate issues to check: the existence of an init script and the correct storage of the NIS domain name.

12.1. NIS Init Script

In your version of Linux, you need to check your directory of init scripts, typically /etc/init.d, /etc/rc.d/init.d or /sbin/init.d to be sure there is a startup script there for NIS. Usually this file is called ypbind or ypclient.

12.2. NIS Domain Name

Perhaps the greatest issue that some people have with NIS is ensuring that the NIS domain name is available after a reboot. According to Solaris 2.x, the NIS domain name should be entered as a single line in:

   /etc/defaultdomain

However, most Linux distributions does not seem to use this file.

12.3. Distribution-specific Issues

At this time, the following information is known about how various Linux distributions handle the storage of the NIS domainname.

12.3.1. Caldera 2.x

Caldera uses the file /etc/nis.conf which has the same format as the normal /etc/yp.conf.

12.3.2. Debian

Debian appears to follow Sun's usage of /etc/defaultdomain.

12.3.3. Red Hat Linux 6.x, 7.x, 8.x and 9

Create or modify the variable NISDOMAIN in the file /etc/sysconfig/network.

12.3.4. SuSE Linux 6.x and 7.x

Modify the variable YP_DOMAINNAME in /etc/rc.config and then run the command SuSEconfig.

12.3.5. SuSE Linux 8.x and later

Since version 8.0 SuSE Linux also follow Sun's usage of /etc/defaultdomain.