kinit

You use the kinit tool and its options to obtain and cache Kerberos ticket-granting tickets.

This tool is similar in functionality to the kinit tool that is commonly found in other Kerberos implementations, such as SEAM and MIT Reference implementations. The user must be registered as a principal with the Key Distribution Center (KDC) prior to running kinit.

Synopsis

Initial ticket request:

 kinit [-A] [-f] [-p] [-c cache_name] [-l lifetime] [-r renewable_time] [[-k [-t keytab_file_name]] [principal] [password]

Renew a ticket:

 kinit -R [-c cachename] [principal]

Description

By default, on Windows, a cache file named USER_HOME\krb5cc_USER_NAME is generated.

The identifier USER_HOME is obtained from the java.lang.System property user.home. USER_NAME is obtained from the java.lang.System property user.name. If USER_HOME is null, the cache file is stored in the current directory from which the program is running. USER_NAME is the operating system's login user name. This user name could be different than the user's principal name. For example, on Windows, the cache file could be C:\Windows\Users\duke\krb5cc_duke, in which duke is the USER_NAME and C:\Windows\Users\duke is the USER_HOME.

By default, the keytab name is retrieved from the Kerberos configuration file. If the keytab name isn’t specified in the Kerberos configuration file, the kinit tool assumes that the name is USER_HOME\krb5.keytab

If you don’t specify the password using the password option on the command line, the kinit tool prompts you for the password.

Note:

The password option is provided only for testing purposes. Don’t specify your password in a script or provide your password on the command line. Doing so will compromise your password.

Commands

You can specify one of the following commands. After the command, specify the options for it.

-A

Doesn’t include addresses.

-f

Issues a forwardable ticket.

-p

Issues a proxiable ticket.

-c cache_name

The cache name (for example, FILE:D:\temp\mykrb5cc).

-l lifetime

Sets the lifetime of a ticket.

-r renewable_time

Sets the total lifetime that a ticket can be renewed.

-R

Renews a ticket.

-k

Uses keytab

-t keytab_filename

The keytab name (for example, D:\winnt\profiles\duke\krb5.keytab).

principal

The principal name (for example, [e-mail]).

password

Theprincipal’s Kerberos password. Don’t specify this on the command line or in a script.

-help

Displays instructions.

Examples

Requests credentials valid for authentication from the current client host, for the default services, storing the credentials cache in the default location (C:\Windows\Users\duke\krb5cc_duke):

kinit [e-mail]

Requests proxiable credentials for a different principal and store these credentials in a specified file cache:

kinit -p -c FILE:C:\Windows\Users\duke\credentials\krb5cc_cafebeef
    [e-mail]

Requests proxiable and forwardable credentials for a different principal and stores these credentials in a specified file cache:

kinit -f -p -c FILE:C:\Windows\Users\duke\credentials\krb5cc_cafebeef
    [e-mail]

Displays the help menu for the kinit tool:

kinit -help