ypxfr(1M)

NAME
     ypxfr - transfer an NIS map from some NIS server to here

SYNOPSIS
     ypxfr [ -f ] [ -h host ] [ -d domain ]
          [ -c ] [ -C tid prog ipadd port ] mapname

DESCRIPTION
     Ypxfr moves a network information service (NIS) map to the local host by
     making use of normal NIS services.  It creates a temporary map in the
     directory /var/yp/domain (which must already exist), fills it by
     enumerating the map's entries, fetches the map parameters (master and
     order number) and loads them.  It then deletes any old versions of the
     map and moves the temporary map to the real mapname.

     If ypxfr is run interactively, it writes its output to the terminal.
     However, if it's invoked without a controlling terminal, and if the log
     file /var/yp/ypxfr.log exists, it will append all its output to that
     file.  Since ypxfr is run from /usr/spool/cron/crontabs/root, or by
     ypserv, you can use the log file to retain a record of what was
     attempted, and what the results were.

     For consistency between servers, ypxfr should be run periodically for
     every map in the NIS data base. Different maps change at different rates:
     the services.byname map may not change for months at a time, for
     instance, and may therefore be checked only once a day in the wee hours.
     You may know that mail.aliases or hosts.byname changes several times per
     day.  In such a case, you may want to check hourly for updates.   A
     crontab entry can be used to perform periodic updates automatically (see
     cron(1M).  Rather than having a separate crontab entry for each map, you
     can group commands to update several maps in a shell script.  Examples
     are in /var/yp:  ypxfr_1pd.sh, (transfer once per day) ypxfr_2pd.sh,
     (transfer twice per day) and ypxfr_1phr.sh (transfer once per hour).
     They can serve as reasonable first cuts.

     Refer to ypfiles(4) and ypserv(1M) for an overview of NIS.

OPTIONS
     -f      Force the transfer to occur even if the version at the master is
             not more recent than the local version.

     -c      Don't send a "Clear current map" request to the local ypserv
             process.  Use this flag if ypserv is not running locally at the
             time you are running ypxfr.  Otherwise, ypxfr will complain that
             it can't talk to the local ypserv, and the transfer will fail.

     -h host Get the map from host, regardless of what the map says the master
             is.  If host is not specified, ypxfr will ask the

             NIS service for the name of the master, and try to get the map
             from there.  host may be a name or an Internet address in the
             form a.b.c.d (see inet(3N)).
     -d domain
             Specify a domain other than the default domain.

     -C tid prog ipadd port
             This option is only for use by ypserv.  When ypserv invokes
             ypxfr, it specifies that ypxfr should call back a yppush process
             at the host with Internet address ipaddr, registered as program
             number prog, listening on port port, and waiting for a response
             to transaction tid.

FILES
     /var/yp/ypxfr.log
     /var/yp/ypxfr_1pd.sh
     /var/yp/ypxfr_2pd.sh
     /var/yp/ypxfr_1ph.sh
     /usr/spool/cron/crontabs/root

SEE ALSO
     ypserv(1M), yppush(1M), ypfiles(4)