Managing NFS and NIS: Help for Unix System Administrators

A modern computer system that's not part of a network is even more of an anomaly today than it was when we published the first edition of this book in 1991. But however widespread networks have become, managing a network and getting it to perform well can still be a problem. Managing NFS and NIS, in a new edition based on Solaris 8, is a guide to two tools that are absolutely essential to distributed computing environments: the Network Filesystem (NFS) and the Network Information System (formerly called the "yellow pages" or YP). The Network Filesystem, developed by Sun Microsystems, is fundamental to most Unix networks. It lets systems ranging from PCs and Unix workstations to large mainframes access each other's files transparently, and is the standard method for sharing files between different computer systems. As popular as NFS is, it's a "black box" for most users and administrators. Updated for NFS Version 3, Managing NFS and NIS offers detailed access to what's inside, including:

• How to plan, set up, and debug an NFS network
• Using the NFS automounter
• Diskless workstations
• PC/NFS
• A new transport protocol for NFS (TCP/IP)
• New security options (IPSec and Kerberos V5)
• Diagnostic tools and utilities
• NFS client and server tuning

NFS isn't really complete without its companion, NIS, a distributed database service for managing the most important administrative files, such as the passwd file and the hosts file. NIS centralizes administration of commonly replicated files, allowing a single change to the database rather than requiring changes on every system on the network. If you are managing a network of Unix systems, or are thinking of setting up a Unix network, you can't afford to overlook this book.

Mike Eisler graduated from the University of Central Florida with a master's degree in computer science in 1985. His first exposure to NFS and NIS came while working for Lachman Associates, Inc., where he was responsible for porting NFS and NIS to System V platforms. He later joined Sun Microsystems, Inc., responsible for projects such as NFS server performance, NFS/TCP, WebNFS, NFS secured with Kerberos V5, NFS Version 4, and JavaCard security. Mike has authored or coauthored several Request For Comments documents for the Internet Engineering Task Force, relating to NFS and security. He is currently a Technical Director at Network Appliance, Inc.

Ricardo Labiaga is a staff engineer at Sun Microsystems, Inc., where he concentrates on networking and wireless technologies. Ricardo spent 8 years in the Solaris NFS group at Sun, where he worked on a variety of development projects with a primary focus on automounting and the NFS server. Ricardo is responsible for implementing significant functionality and performance enhancements to the automounter, as well as leading the NFS Server Logging design team. He holds a master of science degree in computer engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso.

Hal Stern is a technical consultant with Sun Microsystems, where he specializes in networking, performance tuning, and kernel hacking. Hal earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Princeton University in 1984. Before joining Sun, Hal was a member of the technical staff at Polygen Corporation, developing UNIX-based molecular modelling and chemical information system products. Hal also worked on the Massive Memory Machine project as a member of the Research Staff in Princeton University's Department of Computer Science. His interests include large installation system administration, virtual memory management systems, performance, local and wide-area networking, interactive graphics, applications in financial services, cosmology, and the history of science. Hal is active in the Sun User's Group and has served on the advisory trustee board of the Princeton Broadcasting Service for seven years. Hal and his wife Toby live in Burlington, Massachusetts. At home, Hal enjoys carpentry, jazz music, cooking, and watching the stock market.