- Evolution of Solaris Naming Services
- NIS and Files Coexistence
- NIS and DNS Coexistence
- Solaris Naming Service Switch
- Solaris Naming Service Switch Architecture
- NIS Architecture Overview
- NIS Client Server Architecture
- How NIS Clients Bind to the NIS Server
- NIS Maps
- NIS High Availability Architecture Features
- NIS+ Architecture Overview
- NIS+ Client Server Architecture
- How NIS+ Clients Bind to the NIS+ Server
- NIS+ Tables
- NIS+ Interaction with DNS
- NIS+ High Availability Architecture Features
- Solaris DNS Architecture Overview
- DNS Client Architecture
- DNS Server Architecture
- DNS High Availability Features
- LDAP Architecture Overview
- LDAP Information Model
- LDAP Naming Model
- LDAP Functional Model
- LDAP Security Model
- LDAP Replication
- Comparison with Legacy Naming Services
NIS+ High Availability Architecture Features
The availability architecture for NIS+ is similar to that of NIS, but with the following key differences:
- Initialization of NIS+ clients
- Propagation of updates from master to replicas
- Format of mastered data
Unlike NIS clients, which do not require any authentication, NIS+ clients must present credentials to gain access to the service. These credentials are stored in the client's home domain. NIS+ can be initialized with one of three methods:
- Broadcast
- Specified Server
- Cold Start File
The Broadcast and Specified Server methods are similar to what NIS clients do. The Cold Start File method provides a file to a client that contains information about how to locate directory objects and also provides a set of credentials. This is the preferred method since it provides additional security. Only a trusted server can provide a Cold Start File.
Instead of pushing entire maps no matter how many changes are made, NIS+ masters only push out incremental changes. These changes are batched, then pushed out. The result is that the replicas are more likely to be in sync. Also, a transaction log keeps track of changes in case of a system failure before they can be pushed out.
Unlike NIS where the mastered data is kept in text files, NIS+ keeps mastered data in a binary format. This means that not only do these files need to be backed up, they also need to be checked periodically for corruption.