DNETD(8)

💖 DNETD 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because we're talking about dnetd — the DECnet Super-server, straight out of the System Manager's Manual 🫶

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✨ NAME ✨

dnetd — DECnet Super-server 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

dnetd [options]
Options:
[-dvVhs] [-l logtype] [-p dir]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so like. dnetd is a daemon that serves incoming connections from remote systems. that's the whole job, that's the vibe 💅

it reads the file /etc/dnetd.conf to figure out which daemons get run in response to which objects. wanna know the format of that file? go read dnetd.conf(5), bestie, it's all there 📖✨

dnetd can also run scripts or programs on the Linux system that match the TASK name on an object name. like, say the connection from VMS was "TASK=showproc" — then the program "showproc" gets run, and the output (stdout only, okay? only stdout) gets sent back to the calling process. no cap. ⚠️ and heads up: dnetd always converts the task name into lower case. always. periodt.

so where does it go looking for its scripts? three locations, bestie, a little treasure hunt 🗺️:

• a) In the user's home directory (unless the -s switch was specified)
• b) In the directory pointed to by the environment variable DNTASKDIR (if that variable exists when the daemon is started)
• c) In /usr/local/decnet/tasks

dntaskd should be started at system boot time (after DECnet has been started) and must be run as root. like, root root. no shortcuts 🔐

and dntaskd reads the decnet.proxy(5) file to authenticate users who do not provide usernames when connecting. it's giving bouncer-at-the-club energy 🚪

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -d — Don't fork and run the background. use this for debugging 🐛 (yes, that means it stays right there in your face, which is honestly the point)
• -v — Verbose. the more of these you stack up, the more verbose dnetd gets. but bestie, don't use more than one for normal operation, because it will seriously impair performance 😭 like, don't do it. i'm begging.
• -h -? — Displays help for using the command 🆘
• -s — Run in "secure" mode. this just prevents users from running scripts in their home directories. (so it's not really that secure!) 🙈 iconic honestly, the scare quotes are doing so much work
• -p <directory name> — Specifies the default directory name to search for programs named in dnetd.conf(5). by default dnetd will look in the directory named by $(prefix)/sbin when it was compiled. that's /usr/local/sbin if you compiled from unmodified sources, or /usr/sbin if you installed a binary distribution 📂
• -l — Set logging options. here's what's on the menu:
  • -lm — Log to /dev/mono. (only useful if you have my mono monitor driver and a second monitor) 🖥️🖥️
  • -le — Log to stderr. use this for debugging or testing combined with -d.
  • -ls — Log to syslog(3). this is the default if no options are given. ⭐
• -V — Show the version of dnetd 📌

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

decnet.proxy(5), dnetd.conf(5)

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lowkey the whole thing is giving "run me as root or don't run me at all" energy and honestly? respect 💜

and that's the tea, bestie — this was the DECnet utilities page, December 5 1999 edition, filed under DNETD(8) 🎀✨ mwah, go forth and daemon responsibly 🫶🌸