OIDENTD_MASQ.CONF(5)

Okay so you're here for the oidentd_masq.conf tea — this is the oidentd NAT configuration file, section 5, and I'm gonna walk you through it like your bestie who happens to be a Unix genius. 💅✨

🌟 NAME 🌟

oidentd_masq.conf — the oidentd NAT configuration file. That's it, that's the name, and it's iconic. 👑

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

If NAT support is turned on with the --masquerade option, oidentd reads the /usr/local/etc/oidentd_masq.conf file to figure out Ident responses to queries that are meant for other machines. 💖 It's also possible to forward queries to Ident servers on the hosts that are connecting through the machine oidentd runs on. For all the deets on forwarding, check out the --forward option in oidentd(8). ✨

The NAT configuration file is super simple: it contains one rule per line. Lines are read from top to bottom, and only the first matching rule is used. Lines that start with a number sign (#) are ignored — so you can leave notes for yourself! 🎀

🎀 RULE FORMAT 🎀

Rules gotta follow this exact form:

host[/mask] response system-type

Let's break down the fields, bestie:

• host — this is the hostname or IP address of the host that owns the connection for which an Ident query was received. This host must be connecting through the machine oidentd runs on. You can specify it as either an IP address or a hostname. 🦋
• mask — if you specify a network mask using this field, the rule applies to all hosts in the given subnetwork. Network masks can be in dot notation (e.g., 255.255.192.0) or in CIDR notation (e.g., 18). 🌸
• response — this is the response to be sent when receiving a query for the specified host or subnetwork. 💅
• system-type — this specifies the operating system to send alongside the Ident response. See the --other option in oidentd(8) for more info. 👑

🌸 EXAMPLES 🌸

# host[/mask]           response  system-type
10.0.0.1                user1     UNIX
server.internal         user2     UNIX-BSD
10.0.0.0/24             user3     UNIX
10.0.0.0/255.255.0.0    user4     UNKNOWN

Okay so the order of these rules is literally significant in this example. Because lines are read from top to bottom, more specific rules must come before more general ones. For example, the rule for 10.0.0.1 would not match any connections if it were preceded by the more general 10.0.0.0/24. 😭 So don't mess up the order, bestie!

👑 AUTHOR 👑

This page is by Janik Rabe <info@janikrabe.com> — check out https://janikrabe.com. It was originally written by Ryan McCabe. 💖

💀 BUGS 💀

Got bugs? Please report any bugs to Janik Rabe <info@janikrabe.com>. He'll fix them, slay. 💀

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

Check out these other iconic pages: oidentd(8) and oidentd.conf(5). 🌈

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This has been your girl with the oidentd 3.1.0 scoop, page OIDENTD_MASQ.CONF(5) — catch you in the next manpage, mwah! 💖✨