NAME

inetd - Internet services daemon

SYNOPSIS

inetd [ -d ] [ -s ] [ -t ] [ -r count interval ] [ configuration-file ]

AVAILABILITY

SUNWcsu

DESCRIPTION

inetd is the server process for the Internet standard services. inetd is usually started up at system boot time. The configuration-file lists the services that inetd is to provide. If no configuration-file is given on the command line, inetd reads its configuration information from the file /etc/inetd.conf. [See inetd.conf(4TSOL) for more information on the format of this file.] inetd listens for service requests on the TCP or UDP ports associated with each of the services listed in the configuration file. When a request arrives, inetd executes the server program associated with the service. An inetd profile entry is now contained in tsolprof. This entry defines the privileges and minimum and maximum labels for servers started by inetd.

A service can be configured to be "single-threaded," in which case inetd waits for the server process to exit before starting a second server process. RPC services can also be started by inetd.

inetd provides a number of simple Internet services internally. These include echo, discard, chargen (character generator), daytime (human-readable time), and time (machine-readable time, in the form of the number of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1900).

inetd reads its configuration file and the inetd profile entry in tsolprof first when inetd is started and again whenever it receives a hangup signal, SIGHUP . New services can be activated and existing services deleted or modified by editing the configuration file or the inetd profile, and then sending inetd a SIGHUP signal.

OPTIONS

-d

Runs inetd in the foreground and enables debugging output.

-s

Allows you to run inetd "stand-alone," outside the Service Access Facility (SAF). If the -s option is omitted, inetd will attempt to contact the service access controller (SAC) and will exit if SAC is not already running. See sac(1M).

-t

Instructs inetd to trace the incoming connections for all of its TCP services by logging the client's IP address and TCP port number, along with the name of the service, using the syslog(3) facility. UDP services cannot be traced. When tracing is enabled, inetd uses the syslog facility code "daemon" and "notice" priority level.

-r

Allows inetd to detect and then suspend "broken" servers. The -r flag has this form:

-r count interval

count and interval are decimal numbers that represent the maximum count of invocations per interval of seconds a service may be started before the service is considered "broken."

Once considered "broken," a server is suspended for ten minutes. After ten minutes, inetd again enables service, hoping the server behaves correctly.

If the -r flag is not specified, inetd behaves as though -r40 60 was specified.

OPERANDS

configuration-file

Lists the services inetd is to provide.

RETURN VALUES

inetd does not return an exit status.

SUMMARY OF TRUSTED

inetd starts servers at the correct sensitivity label based upon the sensitivity label of the client request.

SOLARIS CHANGES

A number of new configuration options are defined in inetd.conf(4TSOL). See that man page for more detail.

inetd registers RPC servers as multilevel servers with rpcbind.

The time, discard, daytime, and chargen internal services get replies with an ADMIN_LOW information label. The echo-service replies have an information label equal to the information label of the data received from the client.

If there is an entry for a server in the inetd profile and that entry specifies privileges, the server will inherit the specified privileges from inetd. To support this inheritance, inetd must have all privileges.

If there is an entry for a server in the inetd profile entry and that entry specifies minimum and maximum sensitivity labels, inetd will verify that the sensitivity label of the client is within the specified min/max range. If the label is not, the server will not be executed.

SEE ALSO

in.ftpd(1MTSOL), in.rexecd(1MTSOL), in.rshd(1MTSOL), in.tftpd(1MTSOL), sac(1M), inetd.conf(4TSOL)

Postel, Jon, ``Echo Protocol,'' RFC 862, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, May 1983.

Postel, Jon, ``Discard Protocol,'' RFC 863, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, May 1983.

Postel, Jon, ``Character Generator Protocol,'' RFC 864, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, May 1983.

Postel, Jon, ``Daytime Protocol,'' RFC 867, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, May 1983.

Postel, Jon, and Ken Harrenstien, ``Time Protocol,'' RFC 868, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA, May 1983.

WARNINGS

Do not configure udp services as nowait. This configuration would cause a race condition in which the inetd program selects on the socket and the server program reads from the socket. Many server programs would be forked and performance would be severely compromised.

NOTES

For RPC services, inetd listens on all the transports (not only tcp and udp) as specified for each service in the inetd.conf(4) file.