Network File System (NFS) and Network Information Services (NIS) daemons are started from the /etc/rc.nfs file. However, before the NFS and NIS daemons can be started, the portmap daemon must be started in the /etc/rc.tcpip file. By default, the /etc/rc.nfs file is not invoked by the /etc/inittab file. If you add a line in the /etc/inittab file to invoke the /etc/rc.nfs script, it should be invoked after the /etc/rc.tcpip script.
If NIS is active, you should include a root entry prior to the +:: (plus sign, colon, colon) entry in the /etc/passwd file and a system entry prior to the +:: entry in the /etc/group file. This allows a system administrator to log in as root and make changes if the system is unable to communicate with the NIS server.
NFS can be configured by using the Web-based System Manager fast path, wsm network, or the SMIT fast path, smit nfs. The Web-based System Manager and SMIT menus refer to NIS (formerly Yellow Pages) as NIS. Many of the NFS and NIS commands are found in the /etc and /usr/etc directory.
Some NFS environments use an arch command to identify machine families and types of machines. For example if you are using the IBM RS/6000, we suggest you specify the power identifier for family (CPU), and the ibm6000 identifier for type (machine).