root passwd read from NIS not /etc/passwd

[Ian James]

When root's password on the 11.11 NIS server is changed using passwd, it updates /etc/passwd but when root logs out and logs in or su, the passwd that works is the one that WAS in use when ypmake was last run. The /etc/nsswitch.conf has passwd: files nis
The /etc/rc.config.d/namesvrs has
YPPASSWDD_OPTIONS="/etc/passwd -m passwd PWFILE=/etc/passwd"
After ypmake is run, the new passwd is the correct one. The NIS slave server always uses the /etc/passwd entry.

[TwoProc]

I'm not sure what's going on - so I'll just throw out a few things I thought about:

Although unlikely - I gotta ask - Is root defined in /etc/password - or did it get deleted where it must get inherited from NIS?

What about another user who has an ID of zero? Maybe this is messing you up? I doubt that one too - but just checking the obvious...

[A. Clay Stephenson]

One thing that occurs to me is that you may have a '+' entry in /etc/passwd on the NIS master.

[Rick Garland]

Modify the ypmake on the NIS server to not push the account info for accounts with UID < 100. In this manner the local account info on the local systems is never pushed accross the networks and updated in the passwd maps.

This way you can run passwd root all you want on a NIS server system but the account info for root will never be transmitted.