NIS is a client and server system that allows machines in a network to share configuration files. It centralizes administration of Unix systems and supports file sharing. NIS is an industry standard and was originally called Yellow Pages.
Network information system, also known as NIS, is a client and server system based on remote procedure calls (RPC). It allows all machines in the network information system, or NIS domain, to share a common set of configuration files. Remote procedure call allows a computer program to execute a procedure on another machine on the shared network and is a form of inter-process communication. NIS was developed by Sun Microsystems to centralize the administration of Unix® systems and allows NIS client systems to be configured from a single location with minimal configuration.
There are two sides to a network information system: server and client. Hosts, or machines, on the network can act as servers or clients. Hosts can be clients, slave servers, or master servers. Master servers are authoritative name servers that process and respond to input from client servers; slave servers mirror or make copies of master servers’ output; and client machines simply get information from slave or master servers.
NIS environments allow many file types to be shared, but the most common types are host, group, and master password files. In a non-network environment, these types of files would be stored on individual computers and would not be accessible remotely from multiple computers. In the NIS environment, however, these files are stored on the master server and the client machine sends a request to retrieve the information. This makes a file accessible from any number of machines, or clients, on the network.
When a shared network is created, the overall goal is to make the network as transparent as possible; for this reason, it is important to keep all user account information in sync. When data is stored centrally, users can access it from any machine within the network without having to remember passwords or physically move data from one machine to another. When using a network information system, the network administrator needs to keep only one copy of the information, because it is stored in only one location on the network.
Since its development, the network information system has become an industry standard and all Unix® and Unix-like systems, such as Solaris, AIX®, HP-UX and Linux, support the use of network information services. The NIS was originally called Yellow Pages, or YP, but because the phrase Yellow Pages is trademarked, Sun Microsystems had to discontinue use of the name. This explains why to this day most network information system commands are preceded by the letters “yp” and why NIS is still called YP by some.
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