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:
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.