[CentOS] Need to restart ypserv to update the nis maps

Mon Aug 11 14:36:52 UTC 2008
Stephen Harris <lists at spuddy.org>

On Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 11:05:58AM +0200, Theo Band wrote:
> I actually have problems that passwords don't get updated. I noticed 
> that by changing the home directory in /etc/passwd. When I change that 
> from /home/user to /nobackup/home/user it does work with ypcat passwd (I 
> see the correct path on the client). When I do cd ~user however, it 

Had you already done a "cd ~user" before the change?  Some shells cache
the home directory lookup so doesn't notice changes.

The other place to look into would be nscd; if you're running that
on the client then lookups are cached locally for a period of time.
This can result in changes not appearing on a client machine immediately.
"ypcat" talks directly to the NIS server, whereas the NS resolver
routines (nsswitch.conf entries) will utilise nscd if it's running.
What does "getent passwd" say?  That uses the OS resolver routines.
Or "finger user"?

You can test this on the client by
  service nscd stop
  rm /var/db/nscd/*
  service nscd start
and seeing if that works.

The fact that "ypcat" returns the right results means the _server_ is
working properly.

-- 

rgds
Stephen