ypbind(8)						      System Manager's Manual							 ypbind(8)

NAME

       ypbind - NIS binding process

SYNOPSIS

       ypbind [ -c ] [ -d|-debug ] [ -broadcast ] [ -broken-server ] [ -ypset ] [ -ypsetme ] [ -no-ping ] [ -f configfile ]

       ypbind --version

DESCRIPTION

       ypbind  finds  the server for NIS domains and maintains the NIS binding information. The client (normaly the NIS routines in the standard C
       library) could get the information over RPC from ypbind or read the binding files. The binding files resides in the directory /var/yp/bind-
       ing  and  are conventionally named [domainname].[version].  The supported versions are 1 and 2.	There could be several such files since it
       is possible for an NIS client to be bound to more then one domain.

       After a binding has been established, ypbind will send YPPROC_DOMAIN requests to the current NIS server at  20  seconds	intervals.  If	it
       doesn't	get  an  response  or the NIS server tells that he doesn't has this domain any longer, ypbind will search a new NIS server. All 15
       minutes ypbind will check, if the current NIS server is the fastest. If it find a server which answers  faster,	it  will  switch  to  this
       server.	 You  could  tell  ypbind  to use network broadcasts to find a new server, what is insecure, or you could give it a list of known,
       secure servers.	In this case ypbind will send a ping to all server and binds to first one which answers.

       Unless the option -debug is used, ypbind detaches itself from the controlling terminal and puts itself into background.	 ypbind  uses  for
       logging	errors and warnings.  At startup or when receiving signal SIGHUP, ypbind parses the file /etc/yp.conf and tries to use the entries
       for its initial binding. Valid entries are

       domain nisdomain server hostname
	      Use server hostname for the domain nisdomain.  You could have more then one entry of this type for a single domain.

       domain nisdomain broadcast
	      Use broadcast on the local net for domain nisdomain.

       ypserver hostname
	      Use server server for the local domain.

       A broadcast entry in the configuration file will overwrite a ypserver/server entry and a ypserver/server  entry	broadcast.  If	all  given
       server  are  down, ypbind will not switch to use broadcast.  ypbind will try at first /etc/hosts and then DNS for resolving the hosts names
       from /etc/yp.conf.  If ypbind couldn't reconfigure the search order, it will use only DNS.  If DNS isn't available, you could only use  IP-
       addresses  in  /etc/hosts.   ypbind  could only reconfigure the search order with glibc 2.x.  If the -broadcast option is specified, ypbind
       will ignore the configuration file.  If the file does not exist or if there are no valid entries, ypbind exit.

       This ypbind is a special version which uses pthreads.  It will start 2 more threads.  The master process services RPC requests  asking  for
       binding info. The first thread initializes the binding and checks it periodically. Upon failure, the binding is invalidated and the process
       tries again to find a valid server. The second thread will handle all the signals.

OPTIONS

       -broadcast
	      Send a broadcast to request the information needed to bind to a specific NIS server. With this option, /etc/yp.conf will be ignored.

       -ypset Allow root from any remote machine to change the binding for a domain via the ypset(8) command. By default, no one  can  change  the
	      binding. This option is really insecure. If you change a binding for a domain, all the current known servers for this domain will be
	      forgotten. If the new server goes down, ypbind will use the old searchlist.

       -ypsetme
	      The same as -ypset, but only root on the local machine is allowed to chang the binding. Such requests are only allowd from loopback.

       -c     ypbind only checks if the config file has syntax errors and exits.

       -debug starts ypbind in debug mode.  ypbind will not put itself into background, and error messages and debug output are written  to  stan-
	      dard error.

       -broken-server
	      lets  ypbind  accept answers from servers running on an illegal port number. This should usually be avoided, but is required by some
	      ypserv(8) versions.

       -no-ping
	      ypbind will not check if the binding is alive. This option is for use with dialup connections to prevent	ypbind	from  keeping  the
	      connection unnessecarily open or causing autodials.

       -f configfile
	      ypbind will use configfile and not /etc/yp.conf

       --version
	      Prints the version number

NOTES

       Binding	to multiple domains is tested and works.  Load sharing between multiple servers for a single domain is not supported.  ypbind will
       always try to bind a domain to a server. If there is no valid server in the list or answers to a broadcast, the domain is unbounded.

FILES

       /etc/yp.conf
	      configuration file.

       /var/yp/binding/[domainname].[version]
	      binding file containing information about each NIS domain.

       /var/run/ypbind.pid
	      contains the process id of the currently running ypbind master process.

SEE ALSO

       syslog(3), domainname(1), ypdomainname(8), ypwhich(1), ypserv(8), ypset(8)

AUTHOR

       ypbind-mt was written by Thorsten Kukuk <kukuk@suse.de>.

ypbind-mt Version 1.11						    April 2002								 ypbind(8)