Managing NFS and NIS

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By Hal Stern

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: January 2001

Pages: 433

A modern computer system that is not part of a network is an anomaly. But managing a network and getting it to perform well can be a problem. This book describes two tools that are absolutely essential to distributed computing environments: the Network Filesystem (NFS) and the Network Information System (formerly called the "yellow pages" or YP).

The Network Filesystem, developed by Sun Microsystems, is fundamental to most UNIX networks. It allows systems ranging from PCs running DOS to UNIX workstations to large mainframes to access each other's files transparently. It is the standard method for sharing files between different computer systems.

As popular as NFS is, it is a "black box" for most users and administrators. This book provides a comprehensive discussion of how to plan, set up, and debug an NFS network. It is the only book we're aware of that discusses NFS and network performance tuning. This book also covers the NFS automounter, network security issues, diskless workstations, and PC/NFS.

NFS isn't really complete without its companion, NIS. NIS provides a distributed database service for managing the most important administrative files, such as the passwd file and the hosts file. NIS centralizes administration of commonly replicated files, letting you make a single change to the database rather than making changes on every system on the network.

This book tells you how to set up and use NIS to simplify network management. It also tells you how to use NIS to manage your own database applications, ranging from a simple telephone list to controlling access to network services.

If you are managing a network of UNIX systems, or are thinking of setting up a UNIX network, you can't afford to overlook this book.

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Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal featured on the cover of Managing NFS and NIS is a tree porcupine, a name meaning "pig with spines." Like the guinea pig, the porcupine is not a pig at all, but a rodent. The tree porcupine is native to the eastern United States and northern Canada. In summer it feeds on green vegetation and the leaves and twigs of deciduous trees; in winter it eats the bark of evergreens. It will frequently chew away a complete ring of bark from around the tree, thereby killing it. As a result of such behavior, the porcupine does millions of dollars of damage annually to the timber industries.

The spines of the tree porcupine are about two inches long, barbed, and tend to be concealed by the animal's long, coarse fur. Contrary to popular belief, the porcupine does not shoot these spines. The spines are loosely attached to the skin, so when the barb on the spine catches on an attacker, the spine will pull loose from the porcupine. Once embedded, spines will tend to work their way further in and have been known to cause death when they puncture internal organs. UNIX and its attendant programs can be unruly beasts. Nutshell Handbooks(R) help you tame them.

...

Edie Freedman designed this cover and the entire UNIX bestiary that appears on other Nutshell Handbooks. The beasts themselves are adapted from 19th-century engravings from the Dover Pictorial Archive.

The text of this book is set in Times Roman; headings are Helvetica; examples are Courier. Text was prepared using SortQuadUs sqtroff text formatter. Figures are produced with a Macintosh. Printing is done on a Tegra Varityper 5000.

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