joind(8)joind(8)NAMEjoind - BOOTP and DHCP server daemon
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/joind [-f] [-dn] [-ln] [-t minutes]
OPTIONS
Sets foreground mode. In this mode, joind will not run as a daemon.
All messages are written to standard out (stdout) and standard error
(stderr), although warnings and errors are still sent to syslog(3) as
well. Sets debug level to n. If debug is turned on, log messages are
also enabled. Enables warning (n > 0) and log (n > 1) messages. If n
is not explicitly given, the value one (1) is assumed (warnings are
turned on). Terminates if minutes have passed and no packets have been
received. This option is valid only if joind was started from inetd.
DESCRIPTION
The joind server is the server that provides configurations to clients
on the network using the DHCP or BOOTP protocols; it normally runs as a
daemon process, and may be started either from the shell command line
interface or by the inetd daemon.
In default mode of operation, joind reads configuration and policy
information from files created by xjoin, the graphical user interface
tool for administering these databases. It then listens on a well-
known port for client hosts requesting configuration either by the DHCP
protocol or by the BOOTP protocol.
The joind daemon looks in the /etc/services file to find the port num‐
bers it should use. Two entries are extracted: The BOOTP server lis‐
tening port. The destination port used to reply to clients.
If the port numbers cannot be determined in this manner, they are
assumed to be port 67 for the server and port 68 for the client.
When a request is received from a client on a network that is adminis‐
tered by a joind daemon, it responds with an Internet address that the
client can use, and sufficient information to permit the client to boot
and configure its TCP/IP stack according to either the DHCP or BOOTP
protocols as described in RFC1541 and RFC1497, respectively.
The joind daemon rereads its configuration file when it receives a
hangup signal (SIGHUP) or when it receives a BOOTP request packet and
detects that the file has been updated. Hosts can be added, deleted,
or modified when the configuration file is reread.
The joind server writes informational and error messages in four cate‐
gories: errors, warnings, information, and debug. Errors are severe,
usually unrecoverable events within the server due to resource exhaus‐
tion and other unexpected failure of system calls. Warnings are less
severe, do not terminate the server, and in most cases describe unusual
or incorrect datagrams received from clients, or requests for service
that cannot be provided. Informational messages provide a human read‐
able transcription of (correct) actions performed by the server on
behalf of client hosts. Debug messages may be generated at various lev‐
els of verbosity from zero (not at all) through nine, as controlled by
the -d option.
The disposition of messages is (by default) as follows: warning, infor‐
mation, and debug messages are discarded: errors are written to
/var/join/log and are sent to the system logger syslog(3) at priority
LOG_ERR and with a facility identifier LOG_DAEMON. If warnings were
enabled, they are also sent to syslog with the same facility, but at
priority LOG_WARNING. The creation and disposition of messages is con‐
trolled by the -f, -d, and -l command line options, and the environment
variable JOINLOG.
BOOTP Information
If you plan to use the joind daemon to support BOOTP requests only, you
might want the inetd daemon start joind automatically. To do this,
uncomment the following line in the /etc/inetd.conf file:
bootps dgram udp wait root /usr/sbin/joind joind
This causes joind to be started only when a boot request arrives. If
joind does not receive another boot request within fifteen minutes of
the last one it received, it exits to conserve system resources.
To run the joind daemon, you must also run the tftpd daemon.
Upon startup, joind first reads its configuration file, /etc/bootptab,
and then begins listening for BOOTREQUEST packets.
RESTRICTIONS
A cluster member should never be a DHCP client. It should always use
static addressing.
If a cluster is to support a DHCP server, there can be only one DHCP
server for all the cluster members using a common database with
failover.
Do not terminate the server with SIGKILL. Doing so leads to data loss,
and frequently results in a corrupted database. Use SIGTERM, SIGINT or
SIGQUIT instead.
Nonstandard subnet masks for all networks administered by the server
must be available either through /etc/join/netmasks or NIS.
The database used by the server does not support multiuser write con‐
currency. When the server is in operation the entire database is
locked against other applications. This means that you cannot use jdb‐
mod or xjdbmod to modify records in the database while the server is
running. The converse is also true.
If the naming policy is to be changed (for example, from assigning
names by MAC address to assigning names by IP address) you must first,
before changing the server policy database, stop the server, dump the
name data (using jdbdump), and then reload after the policy file has
changed.
SIGNALS
SIGTERM, SIGINT, SIGQUIT and SIGUSR2 terminate the server in a con‐
trolled manner. SIGHUP tells the server to reread its configuration
databases. SIGUSR1 dumps database internals.
Never stop the server with SIGKILL. This leads to data loss and corrup‐
tion of the lease and names databases.
FILES
By default, joind reads its configuration and policy databases from
files in the /etc/join directory. The environment variable JOINCONFIG
may be used to select a different directory. These databases may be
stored as text or binary. The text files are: Parameters and configu‐
ration data for individual clients, client classes, and networks. Net‐
works joind controls, and a pool of IP addresses which are available
for the server to assign to clients. A collection of names available
on a per-join-server, per domain-name that the server can assign to
clients. Parameters governing the behavior of joind, and general poli‐
cies concerning network administration and their binary counterparts:
bootptab.hsh, nets.hsh, namepool.hsh, and server.hsh.
During operation, the server creates dynamic database bindings of IP
addresses and names to MAC addresses. The following files are stored
under the /var/join directory, unless overridden by the environment
variable JOINSPOOL. B-trees Hash indexes.
The joind daemon writes a startup message and other messages previously
described in the $JOINSPOOL/log file unless the environment variable
JOINLOG is set, in which case the file named by that variable is used
(NOTE: this must be an absolute filename, not a directory, nor a path
relative filename). The (human readable) log.
SEE ALSO
Commands: inetd(8), joinc(8), xjoin(8)
System calls: syslog(3)
Files: bootptab(4), namepool(4), nets(4), server.pcy(4)
Information: DHCP(7)
RFC1497, RFC1541, RFC1542, RFC1533, RFC1534
joind(8)