Alternatively - and perhaps better since I'm a bit worried about changing *just* that one thing - is it possible for me to export the slapd configuration in a way that I can then edit the configuration to replace nis with rfc2037bis and create everything afresh? Unfortunately, because the installation on Ubuntu does all of the slapd configuration automatically, I don't know what parameters are being specified.
Use slapcat to export it. Use slapadd to import it. See the related man pages.
--Quanah -- Quanah Gibson-Mount Sr. Member of Technical Staff Zimbra, Inc A Division of VMware, Inc. -------------------- Zimbra :: the leader in open source messaging and collaboration