NAME

       ypbind - NIS binding process

SYNOPSIS

       ypbind [-c] [-d | -debug] [-verbose] [-n | -forground] [-broadcast] [-broken-server]
              [-ypset] [-ypsetme] [-no-ping] [-f configfile] [-local-only]
              [-ping-interval ping-interval] [-p port]

       ypbind --version

DESCRIPTION

       ypbind finds the server for NIS domains and maintains the NIS binding information. The
       client (normally 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/binding and are conventionally named [domainname].[version]. The supported
       versions are 1, 2 and 3. There could be several such files since it is possible for an NIS
       client to be bound to more than one domain.

       After a binding has been established, ypbind will send YPPROC_DOMAIN requests to the
       current NIS server at 5 minutes intervals. If it doesn't get an response or the NIS server
       reports that he doesn't have this domain any longer, ypbind will search for a new NIS
       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 servers in the order in which they are listed in the config file and
       use the first one which answers.

       Unless the option -debug is used, ypbind detaches itself from the controlling terminal and
       puts itself into background.  ypbind uses syslog(3) 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.

       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.

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 change the
           binding. Such requests are only allowed from loopback.

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

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

       -n, -foreground
           ypbind will not put itself into backgroun.

       -v, -verbose
           Causes ypbind to syslog(2) any and all changes in the server its bound to.

       -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 unnecessarily open or
           causing auto-dials.

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

       -local-only
           ypbind will only bind to the loopback device and is not reachable from a remote
           network.

       -i, -ping-interval ping-interval
           The default value for ypbind to check, if a NIS server is still reachable, is 20
           seconds. With this options another frequency in seconds can be specified.

       -p port
           The privileged port number that ypbind should use to bind itself.

       --version
           Prints the version number

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), yp.conf(5), ypdomainname(8), ypwhich(1), ypserv(8), ypset(8)

AUTHOR

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