INETD.CONF(5,F)             AIX TCP/IP User's Guide             INETD.CONF(5,F)



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inetd.conf



PURPOSE

Configures the inetd daemon.

SYNOPSIS

/etc/inetd.conf

DESCRIPTION

The inetd.conf file is used to configure the inetd daemon.

Each new line-delimited entry in the inetd.conf file contains seven fields with
entries for each field separated by a tab or a space.  Comments are denoted by
a #  at the beginning of a line.  There must be an entry for each field.  The
fields of the configuration file are as follows:

   service-name
   socket-type
   protocol
   wait/nowait
   user
   server-program
   server-program-arguments

The service name entry is the name of a valid service in the file
/etc/services.  For internal services, discussed below, the service name must
be the official name of the service (that is, the first entry in
/etc/services).

The socket-type should be one of stream, dgram, raw, rdm, or seqpacket,
depending on whether the socket is a stream, datagram, raw, reliably delivered
message, or sequenced packet socket.

The protocol must be a valid protocol as in /etc/protocols.  Examples might be
TCP or UDP.

The wait/nowait entry is applicable to datagram sockets only (other sockets
should have a nowait entry in this space).  If a datagram server connects to
its peer, freeing the socket so inetd can receive further messages on the
socket, it is said to be a multi-threaded server, and should use the nowait
entry.  For datagram servers which process all incoming datagrams on a socket
and eventually time out, the server is said to be single-threaded and should
use a wait entry.  biff and talk are both examples of the latter type of
datagram server.  tftpd is an exception.  It is a datagram server that
establishes pseudo-connections.  It must be listed as wait in order to avoid a




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INETD.CONF(5,F)             AIX TCP/IP User's Guide             INETD.CONF(5,F)



race.  The server reads the packet, creates a new socket, and then forks and
exits to allow inetd to check for new service requests to spawn new servers.





















































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INETD.CONF(5,F)             AIX TCP/IP User's Guide             INETD.CONF(5,F)



The user entry should contain the name of the user to whom the server should
run.  This allows for servers to be given less permission than root.

The server program entry should contain the path name of the program which is
to be executed by inetd when a request is found on its socket.  If inetd
provides this service internally, this entry should be internal.

The arguments to the server program should be just as they normally are,
starting with argv[0], which is a pointer to the name of the program.

EXAMPLES

  ftp      stream  tcp    nowait   root    /etc/ftpd         ftpd
  telnet   stream  tcp    nowait   root    /etc/telnetd      telnetd
  shell    stream  tcp    nowait   root    /etc/rshd         rshd
  login    stream  tcp    nowait   root    /etc/rlogind      rlogind
  exec     stream  tcp    nowait   root    /etc/rexecd       rexecd
  smtp     stream  tcp    nowait   root    /usr/lib/sendmail sendmail -bn
  tftp     dgram   udp    wait     nobody  /etc/tftpd        tftpd
  comsat   dgram   udp    wait     root    /etc/comsat       comsat
  talk     dgram   udp    wait     root    /etc/talkd        talkd
  ntalk    dgram   udp    wait     root    /etc/talkd        talkd
  echo     dgram   udp    wait     root    internal
  discard  dgram   udp    wait     root    internal
  chargen  dgram   udp    wait     root    internal
  daytime  dgram   udp    wait     root    internal
  time     dgram   udp    wait     root    internal

FILES

/etc/inetd.conf

RELATED INFORMATION

In this book:
"inetd"
"rc.tcpip, rc.tcpip.local"
"protocols"
"tftpd"
















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