The package glibc is installed on Linux by default, but the
glibc version might not be sufficient for SAP. Please refer to
SAP note of your Linux version for the minimum requirement on glibc.
The glibc package can be installed with the following command:
$ apt-get install glibc
The glibc package contains standard C and math libraries used by multiple programs on Linux. The glibc shipped with first release of each major Linux version is often not sufficient for SAP. An update is required after the first OS installation.
Each call to a function which retrieves data from a system database like the password or group database is handled by the Name Service Switch implementation in the GNU C library. The various services provided are implemented by independent modules, each of which naturally varies widely from the other. One of such modules is the nis module, which allows to get information from NIS servers.
NIS service is insecure and should not be used.