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Date:      Sun, 25 May 1997 12:49:35 -0700 (PDT)
From:      Bill Paul <wpaul@FreeBSD.ORG>
To:        cvs-committers@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-all@FreeBSD.ORG, cvs-usrsbin@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   cvs commit: src/usr.sbin/ypbind yp_ping.c yp_ping.h Makefile ypbind.8 ypbind.c
Message-ID:  <199705251949.MAA22395@freefall.freebsd.org>

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wpaul       1997/05/25 12:49:35 PDT

  Modified files:
    usr.sbin/ypbind      Makefile ypbind.8 ypbind.c 
  Added files:
    usr.sbin/ypbind      yp_ping.c yp_ping.h 
  Log:
  This commit adds support to ypbind(8) for binding to non-local servers.
  
  The standard SunOS ypbind(8) (and, until now, the FreeBSD ypbind)
  only selects servers based on whether or not they respond to clnt_broadcast().
  Ypbind(8) broadcasts to the YPPROC_DOMAIN_NONACK procedure and waits
  for answers; whichever server answers first is the one ypbind uses
  for the local client binding.
  
  This mechanism fails when binding across subnets is desired. In order
  for a client on one subnet to bind to a server on another subnet, the
  gateway(s) between the client and server must be configured to forward
  broadcasts. If this is not possible, then a slave server must be
  installed on the remote subnet. If this is also not possible, you
  have to force the client to bind to the remote server with ypset(8).
  
  Unfortunately, this last option is less than ideal. If the remote
  server becomes unavailable, ypbind(8) will lose its binding and
  revert to its broadcast-based search behavior. Even if there are
  other servers available, or even if the original server comes back
  up, ypbind(8) will not be able to create a new binding since all
  the servers are on remote subnets where its broadcasts won't be heard.
  If the administrator isn't around to run ypset(8) again, the system
  is hosed.
  
  In some Linux NIS implementations, there exists a yp.conf file where
  you can explicitly specify a server address and avoid the use of
  ypbind altogether. This is not desireable since it removes the
  possibility of binding to an alternate server in the event that the
  one specified in yp.conf crashes.
  
  Some people have mentioned to me how they though the 'restricted mode'
  operation (using the -S flag) could be used as a solution for this
  problem since it allows one to specify a list of servers. In fact,
  this is not the case: the -S flag just tells ypbind(8) that when it
  listens for replies to its broadcasts, it should only honor them if
  the replying hosts appear in the specified restricted list.
  
  This behavior has now been changed. If you use the -m flag in conjunction
  with the -S flag, ypbind(8) will use a 'many-cast' instead of a broadcast
  for choosing a server. In many-cast mode, ypbind(8) will transmit directly
  to the YPPROC_DOMAIN_NONACK procedure of all the servers specified in
  the restricted mode list and then wait for a reply. As with the broadcast
  method, whichever server from the list answers first is used for the
  local binding. All other behavior is the same: ypbind(8) continues
  to ping its bound server every 60 seconds to insure it's still alive
  and will many-cast again if the server fails to respond. The code used
  to achieve this is in yp_ping.c; it includes a couple of modified RPC
  library routines.
  
  Note that it is not possible to use this mechanism without using
  the restricted list since we need to know the addresses of the available
  NIS servers ahead of time in order to transmit to them.
  
  Most-recently-requested by: Tom Samplonius
  
  Revision  Changes    Path
  1.5       +2 -1      src/usr.sbin/ypbind/Makefile
  1.10      +20 -1     src/usr.sbin/ypbind/ypbind.8
  1.25      +41 -3     src/usr.sbin/ypbind/ypbind.c



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