yp and named

[Robert G. Brown]

In BSD Unix, there is a special line in the hosts databases (in
their ASCII form) that must be present in order for the "made"
database to use the named when a name is not in the local host
table.

Note that with YP on, ALL host names are resolved via the YP.
It is the responsibility of the YP to use the named or not as
required.

If you look at the YP makefile (assuming that SGI has one) there
should be a line like:
NAMED=-b
which is a flag, passed to makedbm (read the man page), that tells
it to use "network interdomain" for unknown hosts, i.e. the named.
I would bet that this line is commented out in your makefile,
hence your problem.

      Rob Brown
      Duke University Physics Dept.
      Durham, NC 27707

Nonstandard disclaimer:  This is all Duke University's opinion.  I
don't have opinions, I just work here.  If it turns out to be wrong,
well, tough. :-)