NAME

inetd − Internet services daemon

SYNOPSIS

inetd [ −d ] [ −s ] [ −t ] [ 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 incomming 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. 

SEE ALSO

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

Postel, Jon, “Echo Protocol,” RFC 862, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., May 1983. 

Postel, Jon, “Discard Protocol,” RFC 863, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., May 1983. 

Postel, Jon, “Character Generator Protocol,” RFC 864, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., May 1983. 

Postel, Jon, “Daytime Protocol,” RFC 867, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., May 1983. 

Postel, Jon, and Ken Harrenstien, “Time Protocol,” RFC 868, Network Information Center, SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., May 1983. 

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. 

Sun Microsystems  —  Last change: 14 Sep 1992