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Network Information Services (NIS and NIS+) Guide

Troubleshooting NIS Compatibility Problems

This section describes problems having to do with NIS compatibility with NIS+ and earlier systems and the switch configuration file.

Symptoms

The /etc/irs.conf file fails to perform correctly.

Error messages with operative clauses such as:

"Unknown user"

"Permission denied"

"Invalid principal name"

User Cannot Log In After Password Change

Symptoms

New users, or users who recently changed their password are unable to log in at all, or able to log in on one or more machines but not on others. The user may see error messages with operative clauses such as:

"Unknown user: username"

"Permission denied"

"Invalid principal name"

First Possible Cause

Password was changed on NIS machine.

If a user or system administrator uses the yppasswd command to change a password on a NIS machine running NIS in a domain served by NIS+ namespace servers, the user's password is changed only in that machine's /etc/passwd file. If the user then goes to some other machine on the network, the user's new password will not be recognized by that machine. The user will have to use the old password stored in the NIS+ passwd table.

Diagnosis

Check to see if the user's old password is still valid on another NIS+ machine.

Solution

Use passwd on a machine running NIS+ to change the user's password.

Second Possible Cause

Password changes take time to propagate through the domain.

Diagnosis

Namespace changes take a measurable amount of time to propagate through a domain and an entire system. This time might be as short as a few seconds or as long as many minutes, depending on the size of your domain and the number of replica servers.

Solution

You can simply wait the normal amount of time for a change to propagate through your domains. Or you can use the nisping org_dir command to resynchronize your system.

/etc/irs.conf File Fails to Perform Correctly

A modified (or newly installed) /etc/irs.conf file fails to work properly.

Symptoms

You install a new /etc/irs.conf file or make changes to the existing file, but your system does not implementy the changes.

Possible Cause

Each time the /etc/irs.conf file is installed or changed, you must reboot the machine for your changes to take effect.

Solution

Check your /etc/irs.conf file against the information contained in the /etc/irs.conf file description. Correct the file if necessary, then reboot the machine.


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