nisfiles(4)                                                     nisfiles(4)




 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      nisfiles - NIS+ database files and directory structure

 SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]
      /var/nis

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      The Network Information Service Plus (NIS+) uses a memory-based,
      replicated database.  This database uses a set of files in the
      /var/nis directory for checkpointing to stable storage and for
      maintaining a transaction log.  Additionally, the NIS+ server and
      client use files in this directory to store binding and state
      information.

      The NIS+ service implements an authentication and authorization system
      that is built upon Secure RPC.  In this implementation, the service
      uses a table named cred.org_dir.domain-name to store the public and
      private keys of principals that are authorized to access the NIS+
      namespace.  It stores group access information in the subdomain
      groups_dir.domain-name as group objects.  These two tables appear as
      files in the /var/nis/hostname directory on the NIS+ server.

      Unlike the previous versions of the network information service in
      NIS+, the information in the tables is initially loaded into the
      service from the ASCII files on the server and then updated using NIS+
      utilities (nistbladm -D).  Some sites may wish to periodically
      regenerate the ASCII files for archival purposes.  To do this, a
      script should be added in the crontab(1) of the server that lists
      these tables and creates the ASCII file from the result.

      Note: Except for the NIS_COLDSTART and NIS_SHARED_DIRCACHE file, no
      other files should be manipulated by commands such as cp(1), mv(1) or
      rm(1).  The transaction log file keeps logs of all changes made, and
      hence the files cannot be manipulated independently.

      The files described below are stored in the /var/nis directory:

      NIS_COLDSTART    [Toc]    [Back]
                This file contains NIS+ directory objects that are to be
                preloaded into the NIS+ cache at startup time.  This file is
                usually created at NIS+ installation time.  See nisini
.

      NIS_SHARED_DIRCACHE    [Toc]    [Back]
                This file contains the current cache of NIS+ bindings being
                maintained by the cache manager.  The contents can be viewed
                with nisshowcache(1M).

      hostname.log
                This file contains a transaction log that is maintained by
                the NIS+ service.  It can be viewed using the nislog(1M)



 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 1 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003






 nisfiles(4)                                                     nisfiles(4)




                command.  This file contains holes.  Its apparent size may
                be a lot higher than its actual size.  There is only one
                transaction log per server.

      hostname.dict
                This file is a dictionary that is used by the NIS+ database
                to locate its files.  It is created by the default NIS+
                database package.

      hostname.dict.log
                This is the log file for the database dictionary.  When the
                server is checkpointed (nisping -C), this file will be
                deleted.

      hostname  This directory contains databases that the server uses.

      hostname/root.object
                On root servers, this file contains a directory object that
                describes the root of the name space.

      hostname/parent.object
                On root servers, this file contains a directory object that
                describes the parent namespace.  This file is created by the
                nisinit(1M) command.

      hostname/table_name
                For each table in the directory there will be a file with
                the same name that stores the information about that table.
                If there are subdirectories within this directory, the
                database for the table is stored in the file
                table_name.subdirectory.

      hostname/table_name.log
                This file contains the database log for the table
                table_name.  The log file maintains the state of individual
                transactions to each database.  When a database has been
                checkpointed (that is, all changes have been made to the
                hostname/table_name stable storage), this log file will be
                deleted.

                Currently, NIS+ does not automatically do checkpointing.
                The system administrator may want to do nisping-C (see
                nisping(1M)) operations periodically (such as, once a day)
                to checkpoint the log file.  This can be done either through
                a cron(1M) job, or manually.

      hostname/root_dir
                On root servers, this file stores the database associated
                with the root directory.  It is similar to other table
                databases.  The corresponding log file is called
                root_dir.log.



 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 2 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003






 nisfiles(4)                                                     nisfiles(4)




      hostname/cred.org_dir
                This table contains the credentials of principals in this
                NIS+ domain.

      hostname/groups_dir
                This table contains the group authorization objects needed
                by NIS+ to authorize group access.

      hostname/serving_list
                This file contains a list of all NIS+ directories that are
                being served by the NIS+ server on this server.  When this
                server is added or deleted from any NIS+ directory object,
                this file is updated by the server.

 WARNINGS    [Toc]    [Back]
      HP-UX 11i Version 2 is the last HP-UX release on which NIS+ is
      supported.

      LDAP is the recommended replacement for NIS+.  HP fully supports the
      industry standard naming services based on LDAP.

 AUTHOR    [Toc]    [Back]
      nisfiles was developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

 SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]
      cp(1), crontab(1), mv(1), rm(1), nis+(1), niscat(1), nismatch(1),
      nistbladm(1), nisclient(1M), nisinit(1M), nislog(1M), nisping(1M),
      nis_db(3N), nis_objects(3N).


 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 3 -   HP-UX 11i Version 2: August 2003