Overview#
NIS+
is a directory service developed by Sun Microsystems to replace its older Network Information Service. It is used to store shared configuration data such as user accounts, host names and addresses, printer information and NFS disk mounts.
NIS+ is designed to eliminate the need to duplicate this information on individual systems, instead using a central repository on a master server, easing system administration.
NIS+ client software has been ported to other Unix and Unix-like platforms, notably Linux.
The Network Information Service Plus (NIS+) is an entirely different product than NIS, not an enhancement to NIS. It is a distributed database system that allows you to maintain commonly used configuration information on a master server and propagate the information to all the hosts in your network. NIS+ allows you to maintain configuration information for many hosts in a set of distributed databases. If you have the proper credentials and access permissions, you can read or modify these databases from any host in the network. Common configuration information, which would have to be maintained separately on each host in a network without NIS+, can be stored and maintained in a single location and propagated to all of the hosts in the network.
The disadvantage of NIS+ is that it is difficult to administer. It requires dedicated system administrators trained in NIS+ administration. NIS+ administration is very different from NIS administration. Also, the NIS+ databases are not automatically backed up to flat files. The system administrator must create and maintain a backup strategy for NIS+ databases, which includes dumping them to flat files and backing up the files.