Linux.com: Introduction to NIS, The Network Information Service

"NIS, released by Sun in the 1980s, was the first 'prime time' administrative database. It was originally called the Sun Yellow Pages, but eventually had to be renamed for legal reasons. NIS commands still begin with the letters yp, so it's hard to forget the original name. NIS was widely adopted among Unix vendors and is supported by every Linux distribution...

"The unit of sharing in NIS is the record, not the file. A record usually corresponds to one line in a config file. A master server maintains the authoritative copies of system files, which are kept in their original locations and formats and are edited with a text editor just as before. A server process makes the contents of the files available over the network. A server and its clients constitute an NIS 'domain...'"

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