Still not working… but I’ve made progress.
If one is persistent enough, most computer-related questions can be illuminated, if not outright resolved, by searching the web. Sadly, it’s not the latter in this case, but I have found a number of documents that all shed a little light on the process of setting up a NetInfo domain. The one piece that’s almost completely missing is how to bind the Darwin 1.4.1 machine to my new domain as a parent.
If I can get this all working, I may put together a thorough treatment of the subject and publish it. The knowledge seems to be fading into the mists of time.