The Network Information Service (NIS) is a system that provides
network information (login names, passwords, home directories, group
information) to all of the machines on a network. NIS can allow users
to log in on any machine on the network, as long as the machine has
the NIS client programs running and the user's password is recorded in
the NIS passwd database. NIS was formerly known as Sun Yellow Pages
(YP).
This package provides the NIS server, which will need to be running on
your network. NIS clients do not need to be running the server.
Install ypserv if you need an NIS server for your network. You also
need to install the yp-tools and ypbind packages on any NIS client
machines.