Network Information Service


Network Information Service

(networking, protocol)(NIS) Sun Microsystems' Yellow Pages(yp) client-server protocol for distributing systemconfiguration data such as user and host names betweencomputers on a network.

Sun licenses the technology to virtually all other Unixvendors.

The name "Yellow Pages" is a registered trademark in theUnited Kingdom of British Telecommunications plc for their(paper) commercial telephone directory. Sun changed the nameof their system to NIS, though all the commands and functionsstill start with "yp", e.g. ypcat, ypmatch, ypwhich.

Unix manual pages: yp(3), ypclnt(3), ypcat(1), ypmatch(1).