inetd

Internet super-server (UNIX)

You must be root to start this daemon.

Syntax:

inetd [-d] [configuration_file]

Options:

-d

Turn on debugging.

Description:

The inetd daemon listens for connections on certain well-known ports. When it finds a connection on one of its sockets, the daemon decides what service the socket corresponds to and invokes a program to service the request. After that program is finished, inetd continues to listen on the socket (except in some cases, described below). Essentially, inetd lets you run one daemon to invoke several others, reducing load on the system.

When it starts, inetd reads its configuration information from a configuration file; by default, this is /etc/inetd.conf.

Internal services

The inetd daemon provides several "trivial" services internally by using routines within itself. These services are:

echo

Echo the data received.

discard

Discard the data received.

chargen

Generate characters.

daytime

Human-readable time.

time

Machine-readable time, in the form of the number of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1900.

All of these services are UDP- or TCP-based.

Effects of SIGHUP

When it receives SIGHUP, inetd rereads its configuration file, which may cause services to be added, deleted, or modified.

Files:

The inetd daemon requires the libsocket.so shared library.

If you use RPC-based services, the librpc.so shared library must exist.

See also:

ftpd, /etc/inetd.conf, rlogind, rshd, telnetd, tftpd

TCP/IP Networking in the Neutrino User's Guide