INETD(8N)               COMMAND REFERENCE               INETD(8N)



NAME
     inetd - internet super-server

SYNOPSIS
     /etc/inetd [ -d ] [ configuration file ]

DESCRIPTION
     The inetd server should be run at boot time by /etc/rc.net.
     After inetd is run, it listens for connections on certain
     internet sockets.  When a connection is found on one of its
     sockets, it decides what service the socket corresponds to,
     and invokes a program to service the request.  This process
     is passed to the connection as file descriptor 0 and an
     argument of the form

          sourcehost.sourceport

     where sourcehost is hex and sourceport is decimal.

     After the program is finished, it continues to listen on the
     socket (except in some cases, which are described here).
     Essentially, inetd allows running one daemon to invoke
     several others, reducing load on the system.

     Upon execution, inetd reads its configuration information
     from a configuration file which, by default, is
     /etc/inetd.conf(5n).  There must be an entry for each field
     of the configuration file, with entries for each field
     separated by a tab or a space.  Comments are denoted by a
     pound sign ( # ) at the beginning of a line.  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 or an rpc service name 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 left-most entry
     in /etc/services).

     For RPC services:  following the service name is a slash
     ( / ) and a number or range of numbers signifying version
     numbers, for example:

          mountd/1
          rusersd/1-2



Printed 4/6/89                                                  1

INETD(8N)               COMMAND REFERENCE               INETD(8N)



     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 given in
     /etc/protocols.  Examples might be tcp or udp.  For RPC
     services, valid protocols are prefixed with rpc/, for
     example rpc/udp or rpc/tcp.

     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 received 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.  Tftp and talk are both examples of the latter type
     of datagram server.

     The user entry should contain the user name (whom the server
     should run).  This allows for servers to be given less
     permission than root.  The server program entry should
     contain the pathname of the program which is to be executed
     by inetd when a request is found on its socket.

     For examples of the /etc/inetd.conf file, see
     inetd.conf(5n).

     The arguments to the server program should be just as they
     normally are, starting with argv[0], which is the name of
     the program.  If the service is provided internally, the
     word internal should take the place of this entry.

CAVEATS
     The number of servers is limited to 57.  The maximum number
     of arguments to a server is limited to 64.

     The configuration file is reread by inetd when it receives a
     hangup signal, SIGHUP.  Services may be added, deleted or
     modified when the configuration file is reread.

SEE ALSO
     inetd.conf(5n), services(5n), ftpd(8n), rexecd(8n),
     rlogind(8n), rshd(8n), syslogd(8n), telnetd(8n), and
     tftpd(8n).








Printed 4/6/89                                                  2

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