[CentOS] How insecure is NIS ? Possible alternatives ?

[isdtor]

> Over the next month I have to setup a new network in a local school, and
> I wonder if I should use NIS/NFS. I still have my own documentation,
> it's simple and somewhat bone-headed to setup, and it just works.
 
In my opionion, there is a serious gap in this area. It's either NIS, simple, easy to setup yet insecure, or LDAP/FreeIPA/RH Id management server at a complexity at least one order of magnitude beyond NIS.

There's also the option of using AD if such infrastructure exists. RH ID management has been completely dismissed by colleagues who know both it and AD, and favour the latter.