nisping(1M)
NAME
nisping - send ping to NIS+ servers
SYNOPSIS
/usr/lib/nis/nisping [-uf] [-H hostname] [-r | directory]
/usr/lib/nis/nisping -C [-a] [-H hostname] [directory]
DESCRIPTION
In the first SYNOPSIS line, the nisping command sends a
``ping'' to all replicas of a NIS+ directory. Once a
replica receives a ping, it will check with the master
server for the directory to get updates. Prior to pinging
the replicas, this command attempts to determine the last
update "seen" by a replica and the last update logged by the
master. If these two timestamps are the same, the ping is
not sent. The -f (force) option will override this feature.
Under normal circumstances, NIS+ replica servers get the new
information from the master NIS+ server within a short time.
Therefore, there should not be any need to use nisping.
In the second SYNOPSIS line, the nisping -C command sends a
checkpoint request to the servers. If no directory is speci-
fied, the home domain, as returned by nisdefaults(1), is
checkpointed. If all directories, served by a given server,
have to be checkpointed, then use the -a option.
On receiving a checkpoint request, the servers would commit
all the updates for the given directory from the table log
files to the database files. This command, if sent to the
master server, will also send updates to the replicas if
they are out of date. This option is needed because the
database log files for NIS+ are not automatically check-
pointed. nisping should be used at frequent intervals (such
as once a day) to checkpoint the NIS+ database log files.
This command can be added to the crontab(1) file. If the
database log files are not checkpointed, their sizes will
continue to grow.
If the server specified by the -H option does not serve the
directory, then no ping is sent.
Per-server and per-directory access restrictions may apply;
see nisopaccess(1). nisping uses NIS_CPTIME and NIS_PING
(resync (ping) of replicas), or NIS_CHECKPOINT (for check-
point). Since the NIS_PING operation does not return a
status, the nisping command is typically unable to indicate
success or failure for resyncs.
OPTIONS
-a Checkpoint all directories on the server.
-C Send a request to checkpoint, rather than a ping, to
each server. The servers schedule to commit all the
transactions to stable storage.
-H hostname
Only the host hostname is sent the ping, checked for
an update time, or checkpointed.
-f Force a ping, even though the timestamps indicate
there is no reason to do so. This option is useful for
debugging.
-r This option can be used to update or get status about
the root object from the root servers, especially
when new root replicas are added or deleted from the
list.
If used without -u option, -r will send a ping request
to the servers serving the root domain. When the
replicas receive a ping, they will update their root
object if needed.
The -r option can be used with all other options
except with the -C option; the root object need not be
checkpointed.
-u Display the time of the last update; no servers are
sent a ping.
RETURN VALUES
-1 No servers were contacted, or the server specified by
the -H switch could not be contacted.
0 Success.
1 Some, but not all, servers were successfully con-
tacted.
EXAMPLES
Example 1: Using nisping
This example pings all replicas of the default domain:
example% nisping
Note that this example will not ping the the org_dir and
groups_dir subdirectories within this domain.
This example pings the server example which is a replica of
the org_dir.foo.com. directory:
example% nisping -H example org_dir.foo.com.
This example checkpoints all servers of the org_dir.bar.com.
directory.
example% nisping -C org_dir.bar.com.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
NIS_PATH
If this variable is set, and the NIS+ directory name
is not fully qualified, each directory specified will
be searched until the directory is found.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attri-
butes:
____________________________________________________________
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
| Availability | SUNWnisu |
|_____________________________|_____________________________|
SEE ALSO
crontab(1), nisdefaults(1), nisopaccess(1), nislog(1M), nis-
files(4), attributes(5)
NOTES
NIS+ might not be supported in future releases of the
SolarisTM Operating Environment. Tools to aid the migration
from NIS+ to LDAP are available in the Solaris 9 operating
environment. For more information, visit
http://www.sun.com/directory/nisplus/transition.html.
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