penable Command

Purpose

Enables or reports the availability of login ports.

Syntax

penable [ -a ] [ Device ]

Description

The penable command enables normal ports. Normal ports are asynchronous and only allow users to log in. No outgoing use of the port is allowed while it is enabled. The system enables a port by updating an entry in the /etc/inittab file and then sending a signal to the init process. After receiving the signal and reading the updated status entry, the process takes the appropriate action.

Use the Device parameter to specify the ports to be enabled. Permitted values include:

  • Full device name, such as the /dev/tty1 device
  • Simple device name, such as the tty1 device
  • A number (for example, 1 to indicate the /dev/tty1 device).

If you do not specify a Device parameter, the penable command reports the names of the currently enabled normal ports.

Note: You must have root user authority to run this command.

Flags

Item Description
-a Enables all normal ports.

Security

Attention RBAC users and Trusted AIX® users: This command can perform privileged operations. Only privileged users can run privileged operations. For more information about authorizations and privileges, see Privileged Command Database in Security. For a list of privileges and the authorizations associated with this command, see the lssecattr command or the getcmdattr subcommand.

Example

To enable all normal ports listed in the /etc/inittab file, enter:

penable -a

Files

Item Description
/etc/locks Contains lock files for the pshare and pdelay commands.
/usr/sbin/penable Contains the penable command.