inetd Daemon and IPv6 Services

An IPv6-enabled server application can handle both IPv4 requests and IPv6 requests, or IPv6 requests only. The server always handles requests through an IPv6 socket. Additionally, the server uses the same protocol that the corresponding client uses. To add or modify a service for IPv6, use the commands available from the Service Management Facility (SMF).

• For information about the SMF commands, refer to SMF Command-Line Administrative Utilities in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

• For an example task that uses SMF to configure an IPv4 service manifest that runs over SCTP, refer to How to Add Services That Use the SCTP Protocol.

To configure an IPv6 service, you must ensure that the proto field value in the inetadm profile for that service lists the appropriate value:

• For a service that handles both IPv4 and IPv6 requests, choose tcp6, udp6, or sctp. A proto value of tcp6, udp6, or sctp6 causes inetd to pass on an IPv6 socket to the server. The server contains an IPv4-mapped address in case a IPv4 client has a request.

• For a service that handles only IPv6 requests, choose tcp6only or udp6only. With either of these values for proto, inetd passes the server an IPv6 socket.

If you replace a Solaris command with another implementation, you must verify that the implementation of that service supports IPv6. If the implementation does not support IPv6, then you must specify the proto value as either tcp, udp, or sctp.

Here is a profile that results from running inetadm for an echo service manifest that supports both IPv4 and IPv6 and runs over SCTP:

# inetadm -l svc:/network/echo:sctp_stream
	SCOPE    NAME=VALUE	  name="echo"
	         endpoint_type="stream"
	         proto="sctp6"
	         isrpc=FALSE
	         wait=FALSE
	         exec="/usr/lib/inet/in.echod -s"
	         user="root"
	default  bind_addr=""
	default  bind_fail_max=-1
	default  bind_fail_interval=-1
	default  max_con_rate=-1
	default  max_copies=-1
	default  con_rate_offline=-1
	default  failrate_cnt=40
	default  failrate_interval=60
	default  inherit_env=TRUE
	default  tcp_trace=FALSE
	default  tcp_wrappers=FALSE

To change the value of the proto field, use the following syntax:

# inetadm -m FMRI proto="transport-protocols"

All servers that are provided with Solaris software require only one profile entry that specifies proto as tcp6, udp6, or sctp6. However, the remote shell server (shell) and the remote execution server (exec) now are composed of a single service instance, which requires a proto value containing both the tcp and tcp6only values. For example, to set the proto value for shell, you would issue the following command:

# inetadm -m network/shell:default proto="tcp,tcp6only"

See IPv6 extensions to the Socket API in Programming Interfaces Guide for more details on writing IPv6-enabled servers that use sockets.

Considerations When Configuring a Service for IPv6

When you add or modify a service for IPv6, keep in mind the following caveats:

• You need to specify the proto value as tcp6, sctp6, or udp6 to enable both IPv4 or IPv6 connections. If you specify the value for proto as tcp, sctp, or udp, the service uses only IPv4.

• Though you can add a service instance that uses one-to-many style SCTP sockets for inetd, this is not recommended. inetd does not work with one-to-many style SCTP sockets.

• If a service requires two entries because its wait-status or exec properties differ, then you must create two instances/services from the original service.