Running the Internet daemons
If a host is a server, it invokes the appropriate daemon to satisfy a client's requests. A TCP/IP server typically runs the inetd daemon, also known as the Internet super-server.
The inetd daemon listens for connections on some well-known ports, as defined in /etc/inetd.conf, in the TCP/IP network. On receiving a request, it runs the corresponding server daemon.
You use the super-server configuration file /etc/inetd.conf to specify the daemons that inetd can start.
When it starts, inetd reads its configuration information from this configuration file. It includes these commonly used daemons:
You may also find other resident daemons that can run independently of inetd—see the Utilities Reference for descriptions:
- dhcpd
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol daemon.
- mrouted
- Distance-Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP) daemon.
- named
- Internet domain name server
- ntpd
- Network Time Protocol daemon.
- routed
- RIP and RIPv2 routing protocol daemon
- nfsd
- NFS server.
These daemons listen on their own TCP ports and manage their own transactions. They usually start when the computer boots and then run continuously.
