Manual page for inetd(1M)
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.
It 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.4
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 service listed in the configuration file.
When a request arrives, inetd executes the server program associated
with the service.
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
rereads its configuration file once when it 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, 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. It does this 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 can not 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 the 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.
EXIT STATUS
inetd
does not return an Exit Status.
SEE ALSO
in.ftpd.1m
in.rexecd.1m
in.rshd.1m
in.tftpd.1m
sac.1m
inetd.conf.4
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 will cause a race condition where the
inetd
program selects on the socket and the server program reads from
the socket.
Many server programs will be forked and performance will 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.
Created by unroff & hp-tools.
© by Hans-Peter Bischof. All Rights Reserved (1997).
Last modified 21/April/97
