My initial post: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ start ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am trying to add an entry to my auto_direct.org_dir table. I'm running NIS+ on a Solaris 2.4 server with no replicas. I have the 101973 and the Solaris 2.4 NIS jumbo patch applied to my server. When I issue the following command: nistbladm -a key=/tpceroot value="-rw,intr,hard,timeo=15 kong:&" auto_direct I get the error: can't parse column values: Missing or malformed attribute. So... with some input from some fellow sysadmins, we tried various combinations of escape (back slash) and this finally worked: nistbladm -a key=/tpceroot value=\"-rw,intr,hard,timeo=15\ kong:\&\" auto_direct I don't have a clue why nistbladm won't parse the value correctly. I have a separate NIS+ domain running Solaris 2.5 that has no problem with the initial command. I also tried issuing the initial command under several shells (csh, tcsh, ksh) with the same result. So... Anyone have any ideas what might be going on here? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ end ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks to Rich Froman, Rick Reineman, and Patrick Bigos for responses. Rick Reineman sugessted I dump the table to ascii file, update it, and reload it via the niscat and nisaddent commands. I am reluctant to do this for fear I will break something that is working (what... my typing aint all that great). Rich Froman correctly recognized the problem being with the comma and suggested several command syntax that might work - he's been here ;) nistbladm -a key=/tpceroot value="-rw\",\"intr\",\"hard\",\"timeo=15 kong:&" auto_direct nistbladm -a \ key=/tpceroot value='[-rw\",\"intr\",\"hard\",\"timeo=15 kong:&]'auto_direct By the time I had this reply, Patrick Bigos from Sun had found that this is indeed a bug in nistbladm under Solaris 2.4 that IS NOT PATCHED but is fixed in 2.5 and only affects automount maps. The workaround syntax for the command is as follows: nistbladm -a key=/tpceroot 'value="-rw,intr,hard,timeo=15 kong:&"' \ auto_direct in general: nistbladm -a key=key 'value="val1,val2,...valn server:path"' nis+table Note: use the correct single quote - it's slants left top to bottom and is under the dbl quote key on type 5 keyboards. Also, the single quote is placed before value and after the dbl quote that encloses the value field. NASA Goddard Space Flt. Ctr. - RMS Information Systems, Inc. Data Systems & Technology Division - System Administrator Thomas.M.Erickson.1@gsfc.nasa.gov 301.286 1439 ('ma-bell) 301.286 1768 (fax)