NAME

dced  — the DCE host daemon

SYNOPSIS

dced  [h  | i  ]  [cfr ]  [w route]  [b  | p  | s  ]  [e  | prot_seq ... ]

Options

hPrints dced  usage and exits. 

iInitializes dced  databases and ACLs and exits.  If the databases exist, this option displays an error.  See the list of databases in the FILES section of this reference page. 

cStarts dced  so it does not require DCE privacy encryption for remote key table management.  The default is to use DCE privacy encryption. 

fStarts the dced  process in the foreground.  The default is for dced  to run in the background. 

rStarts dced  in remote-update mode.  This mode allows DCE cell administration tasks to be performed by an administrator on a remote machine.  By default, dced  prevents any remote administration to help prevent attacks by malicious administrators. 

w routeEstablishes the serviceability routing for dced ’s messages. 

bStarts dced  in bootstrap mode with the endpoint mapper service and access control lists (ACLs).  This mode means it may need to wait for other daemons such as secd  and cdsd  before it can perform its own initialization. 

pPurges the existing machine context and removes the bindings file before starting. 

sStarts dced  without the security validation service. 

eStarts dced  without the endpoint mapper service.  No protocol sequences are valid for this option. 

Arguments

prot_seqStarts dced  by using the specified remote procedure call (RPC) protocol sequence string or strings.  Possible values include ncadg_ip_udp (for a datagram protocol) and ncacn_ip_tcp (for a connection-based protocol).  A complete list of the protocol sequences recognized can be found in dce/ep.idl. 

Description

The DCE host daemon is a process that provides services for the local host, and is also the server used by remote applications to access these host services.  The DCE host daemon services include the following:

endpoint mapper
The endpoint mapper service maintains a database called the local endpoint map which allows DCE clients to find servers, individual services provided by servers, and objects managed by services on the host.  The endpoint mapper service maps interfaces, object Universal Unique Identifiers (UUIDs), and protocol sequence registrations to server ports (endpoints).  Servers register their bindings with the local endpoint mapper, and the endpoint mapper service on each host uses the local endpoint map to locate a compatible server for clients that do not already know the endpoint of a compatible server. 

Host data management
The host data management service maintains local files of host data that include (among others) the host_name, cell_name , cell_aliases , and post_processors files.  The post_processors file contains program names matched with the other host data items (such as UUIDs).  The dced  process runs the program if the corresponding host data item is changed.  There may also be host-specific data files. 

Server management
The server management service maintains data that describes the startup configuration (srvrconf) and execution state (srvrexec) for each server.  It also has the functionality to start or stop particular servers, and enable or disable specific services of servers. 

Security validation
The security validation service acts as the client side of the security server by assuring applications that the DCE security daemon (secd ) that the host is using is legitimate.  In addition, this service logs into the local machine when dced  is invoked and automatically updates the local machine principal’s keys. 

Key table management
The key table management service allows for remote maintenance of server’s key tables (keytab  files). 

The DCE host daemon must be running before any other DCE-based servers are started.  Each DCE host must run only a single dced , and it must run with root privileges since it typically listens on privileged or reserved network ports.  Typically, dced  starts each time a host boots.  (A file called /etc/rc.dce is responsible for configuration issues such as deleting the endpoint map database and starting dced .) 

By default, the DCE host daemon listens on one well-known port for each RPC protocol sequence (that is, each combination of an RPC protocol and a transport protocol) supported by the host on which it is running.  A prot_seq argument lets you limit the protocol sequences on which dced  listens. 

Errors

A representative list of errors that might be returned is not shown here.  Refer to the OSF DCE Problem Determination Guide for complete descriptions of all error messages. 

Files

The dced  databases are as follows:

Related Information

Commands: attribute(8dce).  endpoint(8dce)hostdata(8dce), secval(8dce)keytab(8dce)server(8dce),

Library calls: dce_server∗(3dce), dced_∗(3dce), rpc_mgmt_ep∗(3rpc). 

Books: OSF DCE Application Development Guide.