NIS

Install the ypbind-mt^AUR, ypserv^AUR, and yp-tools^AUR packages.

Add your server's external (not 127.0.0.1) IP address to the hosts file. Make sure it is the first non-commented line in the file, yes, even above the localhost line, like so:

#
# /etc/hosts: static lookup table for host names
#

#<ip-address>	<hostname.domain.org>	<hostname>
#::1		localhost.localdomain	localhost
192.168.1.10   nis_server.domain.com   nis_server
127.0.0.1	localhost.localdomain	localhost nis_server
# End of file

This is due to a peculiarity in ypinit (maybe it is a bug, maybe it is a feature), which will always add the first line in /etc/hosts to the list of ypservers.

Add the domain name to /etc/nisdomainname:

# NISDOMAINNAME="nis-domain-name"

Add rules to /etc/ypserv.conf for your your nis clients of this form:

# ip-address-of-client : nis-domain-name : rule : security

For example:

# 192.168. : home-domain : * : port

For more information see man ypserv.conf.

Add or remove files you would like NIS to use to under the "all" rule.

Default:

# all:  passwd group hosts rpc services netid protocols netgrp \
#         shadow # publickey networks ethers bootparams printcap mail \
#         # amd.home auto.master auto.home auto.local passwd.adjunct \
#         # timezone locale netmasks

After that you have to build your NIS database:

# cd /var/yp
# make

Or you can do it in a more automated fashion:

# /usr/lib/yp/ypinit -m

If you use this way you may skip manually adding lines to .

Add rules to /var/yp/securenets to restrict access:

# 255.255.0.0 192.168.0.0 # Gives access to anyone in 192.168.0.0/16

Be sure to comment out this line, as it gives access to anyone.

# 0.0.0.0      0.0.0.0

Add your server to :

# your.nis.server

# ypdomainname EXAMPLE.COM

Now edit the file and add your ypserver or nis server.

ypserver nis_server

Start/enable the following systemd units:

• ypserv.service
• (to allow clients to change their password with )

The first step is to install the tools that you need. This provides the configuration files and general tools needed to use NIS. Install yp-tools^AUR ypbind-mt^AUR.

# ypdomainname EXAMPLE.COM

You can apply this permanently by editing /etc/nisdomainname and adding:

# NISDOMAINNAME="EXAMPLE.COM"

Now edit the file and add your ypserver or nis server.

ypserver nis_server

It may be a good idea to add your NIS server to /etc/hosts

192.168.1.10   nis_server.domain.com   nis_server

Start/enable the and systemd units.

To test the setup so far you can run the command yptest:

# yptest

If it works you will, among other things, see the contents of the NIS user database (which is printed in the same format as ).

To actually use NIS to log in you have to edit /etc/nsswitch.conf. Modify the lines for passwd, group and shadow to read:

passwd: files nis
group: files nis
shadow: files nis

And then do not forget to restart .

To allow a user on a client machine to change their password on the server, be sure that is started/enabled on the server.

Edit on the client to add the parameter to :

password     required     pam_unix.so sha512 shadow nullok nis

See section 7 of The Linux NIS HOWTO for further information on configuring NIS clients.

Due to sandboxing on , any IP connections from and to the service are now denied. This will cause failures to log in, even though works as expected, and can also cause to crash outright. The basic problem is that the default systemd-logind.service file that ships with specifies , and this prevents it from communicating with the NIS server at login. Moreover, since V239, that file also specifies , dropping from the list.

The solution is to whitelist the address or address range of your NIS server.

Use a drop-in unit file for systemd-logind.service, with these lines (the following allows connections , edit as appropriate):

After updating nis clients to systemd 245-1, the can be affected by a similar issue as the systemd-logind.service which can cause 25 second login delays.

Use a drop-in unit file for containing your NIS server IP address to correct the issue.

/etc/systemd/system/systemd-userdbd.service.d/override.conf

[Service]
IPAddressAllow=n.n.n.n/32