rlogind Daemon

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Purpose

Provides the server function for the rlogin command.

Syntax

Note: The rlogind daemon is normally started by the inetd daemon. It can also be controlled from the command line, using SRC commands.

/usr/sbin/rlogind [ -a ] [ -c ] [  -l ] [  -n ] [  -s ]

Description

The /usr/sbin/rlogind daemon is the server for the rlogin remote login command. The server provides a remote login facility.

Changes to the rlogind daemon can be made using the System Management Interface Tool (SMIT) or System Resource Controller (SRC), by editing the /etc/inetd.conf or /etc/services file. Entering rlogind at the command line is not recommended. The rlogind daemon is started by default when it is uncommented in the /etc/inetd.conf file.

The rlogind daemon ignores unrecognized options and log this information through the syslog service if the syslog service is enabled in the system.

The inetd daemon get its information the /etc/inetd.conf file and the /etc/services file.

After changing the /etc/inetd.conf or /etc/services file, run the refresh -s inetd or kill -1 InetdPID command to inform the inetd daemon of the changes to its configuration file.

Service Request Protocol

When the rlogind daemon receives a service request, the daemon initiates the following protocol:

  1. The rlogind daemon checks the source port number for the request. If the port number is not in the range 512-1023, the rlogind daemon terminates the connection.
  2. The rlogind daemon uses the source address of the initial connection request to determine the name of the client host. If the name cannot be determined, the rlogind daemon uses the dotted-decimal representation of the client host address.

Error Messages

The following error messages are associated with the rlogind daemon:

Item Description
Try again. A fork command made by the server has failed.
/usr/bin/shell: No shell. The shell specified for the shell variable cannot be started. The shell variable may also be a program.

Flags

Item Description
-a Disables pty speed enhancement feature.
-c Suppresses the sanity check of a host name lookup.
-l Prevents any authentication based on the user's $HOME/.rhosts file. However, a root user is automatically logged in when there is a .rhosts file in root's home directory as specified by the /etc/passwd file.
-n Disables transport-level keep-alive messages. The messages are enabled by default.
-s Turns on socket level debugging.

Security

The rlogind daemon is a PAM-enabled application with a service name of rlogin. System-wide configuration to use PAM for authentication is set by modifying the value of the auth_type attribute, in the usw stanza of /etc/security/login.cfg, to PAM_AUTH as the root user.

The authentication mechanisms used when PAM is enabled depend on the configuration for the rlogin service in /etc/pam.conf. The rlogind daemon requires /etc/pam.conf entries for the auth, account, password, and session module types. Listed below is a recommended configuration in /etc/pam.conf for the rlogin service: 
#
# AIX rlogin configuration
#
rlogin auth      sufficient   /usr/lib/security/pam_rhosts_auth
rlogin auth      required     /usr/lib/security/pam_aix

rlogin account   required     /usr/lib/security/pam_aix

rlogin password  required     /usr/lib/security/pam_aix

rlogin session   required     /usr/lib/security/pam_aix

Examples

Note: The arguments for the rlogind daemon can be specified by using SMIT or by editing the /etc/inetd.conf file.

  1. To start the rlogind daemon, enter the following:
    startsrc -t rlogin
    This command starts the rlogind subserver.
  2. To stop the rlogind daemon normally, enter the following:
    stopsrc -t rlogin
    This command allows all pending connections to start and existing connections to complete but prevents new connections from starting.
  3. To force stop the rlogind daemon and all rlogind connections, enter the following:
    stopsrc -f -t rlogin
    This command terminates all pending connections and existing connections immediately.
  4. To display a short status report about the rlogind daemon, enter the following:
    lssrc -t rlogin
    This command returns the daemon's name, process ID, and state (active or inactive).