In order to migrate usernames and passwords from a NIS server, the passwd and shadow files were used with a custom script to import the data to OpenLDAP. After properly creating a test workstation…

If the number of users listed by `getent passwd` differs between the original NIS client and the OpenLDAP client after migration, it strongly suggests that the initial source `passwd` and `shadow` files used to populate OpenLDAP were not a complete or synchronized representation of the active NIS database, leading to an incomplete data import.

OpenLDAP serves the user data it has been configured with and does not spontaneously create additional users that would then appear in `getent` output.

While NIS clients might not receive correct files, the core problem for a migration discrepancy usually lies in the integrity of the data extracted from the NIS server for the OpenLDAP import, rather than client-side reception issues.

NIS and OpenLDAP utilize different network ports for communication, making a port conflict an unlikely cause for discrepancies in user counts during migration.

The `getent` command queries configured name services according to `nsswitch.conf`; if the OpenLDAP client were querying NIS, it would be a misconfiguration, but it doesn't explain the *difference* in counts from the original NIS client after a migration attempt.