UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Well one problem down and another just pops up. I run ypbind and I see

Starting NIS service: [OK ]
Binding NIS service: [FAILED]
Shutting down NIS service: [OK ]

To my knowledge everything is configured properly.
I ran tcpdump on the machine running ypserv to see what was happening and here was the output (well the cleaned up version):

17:52:51.262128 IP node2.746 > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:52:51.262408 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.746: UDP, length 28
17:52:51.262875 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108
17:52:56.262364 arp who-has node2 tell head.node
17:52:56.262505 arp reply node2 is-at 00:0b:db:5a:57:36 (oui Unknown)
17:52:56.262749 IP node2.fujitsu-dev > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:52:56.262935 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.fujitsu-dev: UDP, length 28
17:52:56.263503 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108
17:53:01.262628 IP node2.ris-cm > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:53:01.262832 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.ris-cm: UDP, length 28
17:53:01.263122 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108
17:53:06.262502 IP node2.749 > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:53:06.262708 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.749: UDP, length 28
17:53:06.263244 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108
17:53:11.262374 IP node2.kerberos-iv > head.node.sunrpc:
17:53:11.262691 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.kerberos-iv:
17:53:11.263117 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108
17:53:16.262246 IP node2.kerberos_master > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:53:16.262456 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.kerberos_master: UDP, length 28
17:53:16.262740 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108
17:53:21.262120 IP node2.passwd_server > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:53:21.262317 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.passwd_server: UDP, length 28
17:53:21.262863 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108
17:53:26.261993 IP node2.754 > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:53:26.262204 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.754: UDP, length 28
17:53:26.262486 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108e
17:53:31.261615 IP node2.755 > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:53:31.261821 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.755: UDP, length 28
17:53:31.262369 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108
17:53:36.261489 IP node2.756 > head.node.sunrpc: UDP, length 56
17:53:36.261704 IP head.node.sunrpc > node2.756: UDP, length 28
17:53:36.261982 IP node2.filenet-nch > head.node.nlogin: UDP, length 108

have you checked to see whether or not the client can actually ping/resolve the NIS IP/name? Maybe its not a NIS problem but a DNS problem

Well it is definitely node a DNS issue:

[root@head ~]# ping node2
PING node2 (192.168.0.252) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from node2 (192.168.0.252): icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.246 ms
64 bytes from node2 (192.168.0.252): icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.457 ms
64 bytes from node2 (192.168.0.252): icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.425 ms

--- node2 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2000ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.246/0.376/0.457/0.092 ms
[root@head ~]# rpcinfo -p node2
program vers proto port service
100000 4 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 3 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 2 tcp 111 portmapper
100000 4 udp 111 portmapper
100000 3 udp 111 portmapper
100000 2 udp 111 portmapper
100000 4 0 111 portmapper
100000 3 0 111 portmapper
100000 2 0 111 portmapper
100024 1 udp 32768 status
100024 1 tcp 45407 status
100021 1 tcp 47257 nlockmgr
100021 3 tcp 47257 nlockmgr
100021 4 tcp 47257 nlockmgr
[root@head ~]#

Everything for NIS was configured in the kickstart file for the nodes, but I've gone through and double checked and everything appears to be alright. At first I thought it was ypbind's problem but since I can see it trying to reach the head node in tcpdump ON the head node I'm assuming it has to do with ypserv or something else is blocking it. It isn't portmapper because on the nodes rpcinfo -p head.node resolves fine. My firewall and selinux were both disabled as well. I'm really stumped.

What OS are you trying to run this on?
Do you have other clients bound to the NIS host?
What is in /etc/defaultdomain?
What is in /etc/yp.conf?
Is the NIS master in your /etc/hosts file?
What do the following commands return...

ypwhich
domainname

All the machines are FC8, the host and all the nodes. I'm just setting this up for the first time and no, none of the machines are working with ypbind - well with the exception of the head node.

There is no /etc/defaultdomain because the startup script assigns the domains to each machine. I can try creating this file anyway but I don't believe it would affect anything.

yp.conf =

domain node1 server 192.168.0.2

The domain name changes respectively for each node.

Yup the head node is there, heres /etc/hosts

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1 node1 localhost.localdomain localhost
::1 localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6
192.168.0.2 head.node
#192.168.0.253 node1
192.168.0.252 node2
192.168.0.251 node3

On the nodes ypwhich returns:

[root@node1 ~]# ypwhich
ypwhich: Can't communicate with ypbind
[root@node1 ~]#

which is to be expected because ypbind wont start

On the master ypbind is running fine so it returns:

[root@head home]# ypwhich
head.node
[root@head home]#

The nodes respectively show something similar to this:

[root@node1 ~]# domainname
node1
[root@node1 ~]#

And the master shows:

[root@head home]# domainname
head.node
[root@head home]#

I noticed that the line for node1 is commented out in you /etc/hosts file.

Also, have you tried running ypinit -c from the client?
It should prompt for the server to bind to. You can use the ip address of the master just to be sure.

That file where you noticed the comment is /etc/hosts from node1, so node1 is defined up with localhost and commented out there. eh, ypinit -c I saw this else where but this is what I see when I try to run it :

[root@node1 yp]# ./ypinit -c
usage:
ypinit -m
ypinit -s master

where -m is used to build the data bases on a master NIS server,
and -s is used for a slave data base. master must be an existing
reachable NIS server.
[root@node1 yp]#