Provides Internet service management for a network.
Note: Use SRC commands to control the inetd daemon from the command line. Use the rc.tcpip file to start the daemon with each system restart.
/usr/sbin/inetd [ -d ] [ -t SecondsToWait ] [ ConfigurationFile ]
The /usr/sbin/inetd daemon provides Internet service management for a network. This daemon reduces system load by invoking other daemons only when they are needed and by providing several simple Internet services internally without invoking other daemons.
The inetd daemon starts by default each time you start your system. When the daemon starts, it reads its configuration information from the file specified in the ConfigurationFile parameter. If the parameter is not specified, the inetd daemon reads its configuration information from the /etc/inetd.conf file.
Once started, the inetd daemon listens for connections on certain Internet sockets in the /etc/inetd.conf. The /etc/inetd.conf file describes to the inetd daemon how Internet service requests on Internet sockets should be handled. When the inetd daemon receives a request on one of these sockets, it determines which service corresponds to that socket and then either handles the service request itself or invokes the appropriate server.
The inetd daemon (a subsystem) controls the following daemons (subservers):
The ftpd, rlogind, rexecd, rshd, talkd, telnetd, and uucpd daemons are started by default. The tftpd, fingerd, and comsat daemons are not started by default unless they are uncommented in the /etc/inetd.conf file.
The /etc/inetd.conf file can be updated by using the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT), the System Resource Controller (SRC), or by editing the /etc/inetd.conf.
If you change the /etc/inetd.conf, using SMIT, then the inetd daemon will be refreshed automatically and will read the new /etc/inetd.conf file. If you change the file using your favorite editor, run the refresh -s inetd or kill -1 InetdPID command to inform the inetd daemon of the changes to its configuration file.
The entries in the /etc/inetd.conf file include the following information:
The inetd daemon can be run with or without the SRC. In addition, the inetd daemon can be controlled by issuing signals using the kill command.
-d | Sends debugging messages to the syslogd daemon. |
-t SecondsToWait | Specifies the number of seconds to wait in the select() system call before looping. The SecondsToWait can be a number from 1 to 999999. Without this flag the inetd daemon will block until one of the active services is requested by a network connection. This flag should only be used when a machine is servicing many wait services like tftp and is not being used for other services. Since timing out the select() system call will cause the inetd daemon to use more CPU cycles, this flag is not recomended for most situations. |
The Internet service requests that are supported internally by the inetd daemon are generally used for debugging. They include the following internal services:
The fingerd daemon, ftpd daemon, rexecd daemon, rlogind daemon, rshd daemon, syslogd daemon, talkd daemon, telnetd daemon, tftpd daemon.
The inetd.conf file format, protocols file format, services file format.
TCP/IP Daemons in AIX Version 4.3 System Management Guide: Communications and Networks.