sadmind(1M)




NAME

     sadmind - distributed system administration daemon


SYNOPSIS

     sadmind  [-c keywords]  [-i secs]   [   -l   [logfile]]   [-
     O OW_path_name] [-S security_level] [-v]


DESCRIPTION

     sadmind is the daemon used by Solstice  AdminSuite  applica-
     tions  to   perform distributed system administration opera-
     tions.

     The sadmind daemon is started  automatically  by  the  inetd
     daemon   whenever  a  request  to  invoke  an  operation  is
     received. The sadmind daemon process continues to run for 15
     minutes  after  the last request is completed, unless a dif-
     ferent idle-time is  specified  with  the  -i  command  line
     option. The sadmind daemon may be started independently from
     the command line, for example, at system boot time. In  this
     case, the -i option has no effect; sadmind continues to run,
     even if there are no active requests.

     The sadmind daemon process can be configured to write  trac-
     ing  information into a log file by specifying the -c and -l
     command line options.  The  -c  option  specifies  a  comma-
     separated  list of keywords indicating the types of informa-
     tion to be logged. The following keywords may be  useful  to
     administrators:

     Errors
           Includes messages about errors  that  occurred  during
           the daemon execution.

     Requests
           Includes  messages  about  which  operations   sadmind
           invoked and when.

     System-Info
           Includes messages about when the  sadmind  daemon  was
           started and stopped.

     *     Includes all possible log messages.

     The -l option enables logging and optionally  specifies  the
     path  and  file  name  of  the  log file.  If no log file is
     specified, the default log file /var/adm/admin.log is used.


OPTIONS

     The following options are supported:

     -c keywords
           Specify the types of information to be  logged  as   a
           comma-separated  list  of keywords.  The default is to
           log all types of messages.

     -i secs
           Specify the number of seconds for sadmind to  stay  up
           after the last request is completed. The default is 15
           minutes  (900  seconds).  If  secs  is   0   or   over
           10,000,000,  sadmind stays up forever. -i only applies
           when sadmind is started by the inetd daemon.  You  may
           want sadmind to run permanently (or for extended dura-
           tions)  on systems that are frequently administered by
           applications  using  sadmind  (for  example,  a server
           managed through Host Manager) to  improve  application
           performance.

     -l [logfile]
           Enable logging and optionally define the path name  to
           the  distributed  system  administration log file. The
           default log file is: /var/adm/admin.log

     -O OW_path_name
           Define the path name to the  OpenWindows  home  direc-
           tory.   If  this  option is not specified, the sadmind
           daemon will use the OpenWindows home directory defined
           in  the OPENWINHOME  environment variable, if defined;
           the home directory specified in  the  /etc/OPENWINHOME
           file,   if   it   exists;  or  the  default  directory
           /usr/openwin. When the sadmind daemon  is  started  by
           the inetd daemon, the environment variable OPENWINHOME
           is typically not  defined.  If  the  OpenWindows  home
           directory  is  not  one  of  the  path names specified
           (/usr/openwin or in the file /etc/OPENWINHOME),    the
           -O  option  must  be added to the sadmind entry in the
           inetd.conf(4) configuration file.

     -S security_level
           Define the level of security to be used by the sadmind
           daemon  when  checking  a client's right to perform an
           operation on the server system.  Security level speci-
           fies  the authentication mechanism used to provide and
           check the client's identity.   The  client's  identity
           must  be  authenticated by the specified mechanism for
           sadmind to accept his or her request. The  system-wide
           authentication  requirements set by the security level
           may  take  precedence  over   any   operation-specific
           requirements.  Consequently, the security level can be
           used system-wide to ensure that  all  operations  meet
           minimum authentication requirements, regardless of the
           requirements assigned specifically  to  an  operation.
           In  addition,  the  security  level determines whether
           sadmind  will  perform  authorization  access  control
           checking.
           Security level may be one of the following:

           0     Set authentication type to  NONE.  All  clients'
                 user  and group identities are set to the nobody
                 identity by sadmind  (see   Solstice  AdminSuite
                 2.1  User's  Guide  ).  If  access is granted to
                 nobody, sadmind  executes  the  operation.   Use
                 this level only for testing.

           1     Set authentication type to WEAK.  Clients'  user
                 and  group  identities  are  set by sadmind from
                 their authentication credentials. Client identi-
                 ties  are  accepted   by  sadmind when they have
                 satisfied  either AUTH_SYS or AUTH_DES authenti-
                 cation   mechanisms.   The  authenticated client
                 identity is checked by sadmind for authorization
                 to execute the operation.  If an operation calls
                 for a stronger security level,  sadmind  demotes
                 the  user  identity  to  nobody, and then checks
                 whether nobody  is  authorized  to  execute  the
                 operation.    Since  AUTH_SYS client credentials
                 are easily forged, this  level  should  be  used
                 only  in  relatively  secure  environments.   No
                 check is done that the user  ID  of  the  client
                 represents the same user on the server system as
                 on the client system.  It is assumed  that  user
                 and  group identities are set up consistently on
                 the network.

           2     Set authentication type to STRONG. Clients' user
                 and  group  identities  are  set by sadmind from
                 their authentication credential mappings (effec-
                 tively, user and group IDs from netid.byname for
                 NIS, or cred table for NIS+).  Client identities
                 are  accepted  by  sadmind  only  when they have
                 satisfied the AUTH_DES authentication mechanism.
                 The  sadmind  daemon  checks  whether the client
                 identity is authorized to execute the operation.
                 This  level provides the most secure environment
                 for executing distributed administration  opera-
                 tions.   It overrides any weaker level  specific
                 to an operation.  A  DES credential  must  exist
                 for the host running the  sadmind daemon and all
                 administration  client  user  identities.   This
                 security level is the default.

     -v    Enable the writing  of  log  messages  to  the  system
           logger,  syslogd. Messages logged include fatal errors
           encountered while attempting to start the sadmind dae-
           mon  process  and those specified by the -c trace mes-
           sage keywords.


EXAMPLES

     Example 1: Using the sadmind command

     By default, the line in /etc/inetd.conf that starts  sadmind
     appears as follows:

     100232/10        tli     rpc/udp    wait root
     /usr/sbin/sadmind sadmind

     To make a network as secure as possible, change the line to:

     100232/10        tli     rpc/udp    wait root
     /usr/sbin/sadmind sadmind -S 2

     To minimize delays due to starting up  sadmind,  change  the
     line to include the  -i option:

     100232/10        tli     rpc/udp    wait root
     /usr/sbin/sadmind sadmind -i 86400

     In this example, the duration that sadmind remains up  after
     the  last  operation request was completed is extended to 24
     hours (86,400 seconds). Extending  the  timeout  period  may
     enhance  performance  on servers and workstations that  fre-
     quently run or are administered by applications that use the
     sadmind  daemon  (for example, Solstice AdminSuite  applica-
     tions such as Host Manager).


FILES

     /var/adm/admin.log
           Distributed system administration default log file

     /etc/inetd.conf
           Internet servers database file


ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWadmfw                   |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|


SEE ALSO

     inetd(1M), rpcbind(1M), inetd.conf(4), attributes(5)

     Solstice AdminSuite 2.1 User's Guide


NOTES

     Whenever inetd fails to start sadmind, re-register  the  RPC
     number  for  sadmind,  100232,  with  rpcbind by sending the
     inetd process a SIGHUP signal:

     example%  kill -HUP pid

     or

     example%  kill -1

     Sometimes inetd does not start sadmind in response to system
     administration requests, even though the inetd.conf file has
     the correct entry for the sadmind daemon.  This  can  happen
     when  sadmind  is started manually from the command line and
     takes over the previous  registration  of  the  sadmind  RPC
     number,  100232, by inetd. When the manually-started sadmind
     daemon is  terminated, the sadmind RPC  number,  100232,  is
     de-registered  with  rpcbind.  Consequently, system adminis-
     tration requests are ignored by inetd.


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