INSTALLING NFS/NIS

[Andrew Luis Arruza]

Could someone give me some further information concerning a note in the "Installing and Asministering NFS Services" book. This is the HP 9000 Networking, edition 5, part number B1031-90042, page 104.
There is a note that says, "NIS is not supported across extended LANs (LANs separated by routers or bridges). NIS is also not supported across WAN links, like X.25 and SLIP.
We are planning on installing NIS+ across routers.
Does this mean we are going to have a problem or des NIS+ handle this?
Any/all help greatly appreciated as always.
Andy

[Alex Glennie]

best official statement i could find was a few years old : I'll go speak to our Netwks team in case anything has changed .... stay tuned :

HP offers limited support of NFS over extended LANs, but does NOT support
NIS over extended LANs. "Limited support" means that HP cannot unilaterally
support every conceivable extended LAN topology for NFS, but we will support
LAN configurations on local LAN media between HP servers. These include
802.3 and FDDI segments separated by routers and/or bridges. Network
Support MUST be purchased by the customer for ANY support over extended
LANs.

"Limited Support" includes minimum data requirements of concurrent LAN
traces (on local AND remote subnets) showing NFS inoperability despite valid
packet reception and/or transmission within acceptable timing constraints
over extended LANs. Network latency can affect timing that will cause NFS
to fall out of the range of operation, for which HP cannot be held
accountable. NFS extended LAN issues falling out of the limited support
category will be supported on a "best effort" basis. "Best effort" means
that the support team (RC, EC, factory) will consider the problem and the
economic viability of investigating it, but HP cannot commit to
troubleshooting or problem resolution. "Best effort" is also contingent
upon the customer possessing a Network Support Contract.

NFS can be tuned for extended LAN interoperability by manipulating the
number of biods and nfsds, write/read buffer sizes, packet fragmentation,
ACK timeouts, retry limits, and kernal configuration. The customer can
either tune their system themselves or purchase consulting.

NIS utilizes UDP broadcast packet transmission, therefore cannot be
supported in any extended LAN topology because the very definition of
extended LAN is to employ routers to segment the LAN from all broadcast
transmission.

HP does not support NFS or NIS over Wide Area Networks (WANs), as stipulated
in the "HP Networking Communications Specification Guide." WANs include
network links utilizing X.25, microwave links, public common carriers, or
high speed lines (such as 56kb).

[Alan Riggs]

What it means is that you require an NIS slave server within each subnet. The ypxfr command (whether initiated directly, through yppush, or through ypmake) will cross routers and switches just fine, but the client's access to maps from a server will will not.

[Alex Glennie · Accepted solution]

.Just spoken to UK Networks team .... this can be done via ypset ... you may have a performance hit but it does work ... HP customers do do this ;)

1. use ypset.
2. Edit /etc/rc.config.d/namesvrs
NIS_CLIENT=1
YPBIND_OPTIONS="-ypset"
YPSET_ADDR="(address of his nis server)"
3. Stopp and start NIS Client.
/sbin/init.d/nis.client stop
/sbin/init.d/nis.client start
4. ypwhich returns the master server.