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Troubleshootiong inetd-managed services

Question & Answer


Question

Troubleshootiong inetd-managed services

Answer

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Users of services and daemons managed by inetd

OBJECTIVE:

Provide instructions to troubleshoot basic problems with inetd

OVERVIEW:

The inetd daemon manages a number of services and daemons, such as ftpd, telnetd, tfptd, and rlogind. There are various issues that may cause some or all of these services to fail.

PROCEDURES:



First, confirm if inetd is running. You should see a single process in the process list.

ps -ef | grep inetd | grep -v grep

If inetd is not running, try starting it with

startsrc -s inetd

If this command fails, there is likely a syntax error in /etc/inetd.conf. You can also try starting it with the -d option to see if it logs any errors to syslog.

startsrc -s inetd -a"-d"

If inetd is running, list its status along with all of its currently enabled services with this command.

lssrc -l -s inetd

You will see output similar to this.

Subsystem Group PID Status
inetd tcpip 2293892 active
Debug Not active
Signal Purpose
SIGALRM Establishes socket connections for failed services.
SIGHUP Rereads the configuration database and reconfigures services.
SIGCHLD Restarts the service in case the service ends abnormally.
Service Command Description Status
ftp /usr/sbin/ftpd ftpd active
xmquery /usr/bin/xmtopas xmtopas -p3 active
time internal active
time internal active
ntalk /usr/sbin/talkd talkd active
exec /usr/sbin/rexecd rexecd active
login /usr/sbin/rlogind rlogind active
shell /usr/sbin/rshd rshd active
telnet /usr/sbin/telnetd telnetd -a active

If the service you need isn't listed, check the /etc/inetd.conf file to make sure it exists and is uncommented. If you make changes to the file, you must refresh inetd to get the updates.

refresh -s inetd

If a specific service won't start, see if there's an existing daemon for that service, kill it and then refresh inetd.

ps -ef | grep <daemon_name> | grep -v grep
kill -9 <pid_of_daemon>
refresh -s inetd

In addition, check the permissions of the daemon's file to make sure it's executable. For example,

ls -l /usr/sbin/tftpd
---------- 1 root system 172796 Aug 17 2017 /usr/sbin/tftpd
chmod 555 /usr/sbin/tftpd
 
ls -l /usr/sbin/tftpd
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root system 172796 Aug 17 2017 /usr/sbin/tftpd


REFERENCES:
 

SUPPORT:

If additional assistance is required after completing all of the instructions provided in this document, use the following step-by-step instructions to contact IBM to open a case for software with an active and valid support contract.  The technical support specialist assigned to your case will confirm that you have completed these steps.

 a.  Document (or collect screen captures) of all symptoms, errors, and messages that might have occurred

b.  Capture any logs or data relevant to the situation

c.  Contact IBM to open a support call (PMR):


d.  Provide a good description of your issue and reference this technote

e.  Upload all of the details and data to your support call (case):

Please visit this web page for instructions:  https://www.secure.ecurep.ibm.com/app/upload

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Document Information

Modified date:
15 September 2021

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isg3T1027346

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