NIS login different in client and server

[alinuxFF]

I have set up an NIS server and one client. From the client I can verify NIS is working by using ypwhich - I get the answer I was expecting i.e. spider (the name of the server). Fred has an account on both computers set up before the NIS server was set up. On the client I changed the NIS password using yppasswd. When I logged onto the server machine Fred had to use the new password that had been changed on the client. BUT Fred's password on the client remained the old password. I checked to see ypbind was still running on the client - and it was. So how can I get NIS to really control the password on the client?

Another quick question - when I create a new user on the server - is it possible that the home directory etc is created on all network machines, or does this have to be done one by one?

Thanks!

[CrystalCowboy]

Clarify please: are you saying you had an account on both machines before you set up NIS? If so, try removing the local account from /etc/passwd.

I prefer to put the home directories of NIS users on NFS-mounted, autofs-mounted directories. That way the directory appears the same no matter which computer the user logs into.

[alinuxFF]

Yes - I did have an account on both machines before I set up NIS. I removed the ID from /etc/passwd in the client and this did work fine. I used the NIS login to access the user's files in the client - thanks! Good advice.

So how do you handle setting up new users? When I created a new user on the server and logged into the client with that user, it accepted the password but had no home directory for it to be assigned to so was going to just let it reside in the root's home directory. I take your point about the NFS home directory, but what is the client machine supposed to do without any assigned home directory to start with? Is there anything in NIS that can set this up in clients as soon as the new user is created?