man pages section 4: File Formats

inetd.conf(4)

NAME

inetd.conf– Internet servers database

SYNOPSIS

/etc/inet/inetd.conf

/etc/inetd.conf

DESCRIPTION

The inetd.conf file contains the list of servers that inetd(1M) invokes when it receives an Internet request over a socket. Each server entry is composed of a single line of the form:

service-name endpoint-type protocol wait-status uid server-program \
server-arguments

Fields are separated by either SPACE or TAB characters. A # (number sign) indicates the beginning of a comment; characters up to the end of the line are not interpreted by routines that search this file.

service-name

The name of a valid service listed in the services file. For RPC services, the value of the service-name field consists of the RPC service name or program number, followed by a / (slash) and either a version number or a range of version numbers (for example, rstatd/2-4).

endpoint-type

Can be one of:

stream: For a stream socket
dgram: For a datagram socket
raw: For a raw socket
seqpacket: For a sequenced packet socket
tli: For all TLI endpoints

protocol

Must be a recognized protocol listed in the file /etc/inet/protocols. For RPC services, the field consists of the string rpc followed by a / (slash) and either a * (asterisk), one or more nettypes, one or more netids, or a combination of nettypes and netids. Whatever the value, it is first treated as a nettype. If it is not a valid nettype, then it is treated as a netid. For example, rpc/* for an RPC service using all the transports supported by the system (the list can be found in the /etc/netconfig file), equivalent to saying rpc/visible rpc/ticots for an RPC service using the Connection-Oriented Transport Service.

wait-status

nowait for all but “single-threaded” datagram servers — servers which do not release the socket until a timeout occurs. These must have the status wait. 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 severly compromised.

A new option exists for udp servers. The -poly option, is similar to the -wait option except that -poly allows a separate server to be started at each sensitivity label. This option is allowed only for udp servers.

If the server program should inherit the trusted path attribute, the wait-status field should include the keyword trusted, separated from other keywords in the field by a comma. If the keyword is not present, the trusted path attribute will not be propagated to the server.

If the server program should inherit audit characteristics from the client, the wait-status field should include the keyword setaudit, separated from other keywords in the field by a comma. If the setaudit keyword is present, the audit ID, audit terminal ID, and audit preselection mask of the client will be transferred to the server.

uid

The user ID under which the server should run. This allows servers to run with access privileges other than those for root. If the server should run with the ID of the client making the call to the server, a keyword of CLIENT should be entered in the uid field. The CLIENT keyword is allowed only for nowait servers. If the CLIENT keyword is present the user ID, group ID, and supplementary groups of the client will be transferred to the server.

server-program

Either the pathname of a server program to be invoked by inetd to perform the requested service, or the value internal if inetd itself provides the service.

server-arguments

If a server must be invoked with command line arguments, the entire command line (including argument 0) must appear in this field (which consists of all remaining words in the entry). If the server expects inetd to pass it the address of its peer (for compatibility with 4.2BSD executable daemons), then the first argument to the command should be specified as `%A'. No more than five arguments are allowed in this field.

SUMMARY OF TRUSTED SOLARIS CHANGES

The wait-status field is extended to allow a trusted keyword to specify that the trusted path attribute should be passed to the server by inetd. If you want a server to run with the audit characteristics of the client, the wait-status field can now contain a keyword of setaudit.

If you want a nowait server to run with the user ID of the client, the uid field can now contain a keyword of CLIENT.

The -poly option has been added for udp servers. The option is similar to the -wait option except that -poly allows a separate server to be started at each sensitivity label.

FILES

/etc/netconfig: Network configuration file
/etc/inet/protocols: Internet protocols
/etc/inet/services: Internet network services

Trusted Solaris 8 HW 12/02 Reference Manual

in.tftpd(1M), inetd(1M)

SunOS 5.8 Reference Manual

rlogin(1), rsh(1), services(4)

NOTES

/etc/inet/inetd.conf is the official SVR4 name of the inetd.conf file. The symbolic link /etc/inetd.conf exists for BSD compatibility.

SunOS 5.8 Last Revised 10 Nov 1999