KPROPD(8)

🌸 NAME 🌸

kpropd — the Kerberos V5 replica KDC update server 💅 no cap, this is the girl that keeps your replicas fed.

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

kpropd [-r realm] [-A admin_server] [-a acl_file] [-f replica_dumpfile]
[-F principal_database] [-p kdb5_util_prog] [-P port]
[--pid-file=pid_file] [-D] [-d] [-s keytab_file]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so bestie, kpropd is the one that runs on the replica KDC server. She's just vibing there, listening for update requests made by the kprop program. And if incremental propagation is turned on? She's periodically requesting incremental updates from the primary KDC. main character behavior honestly. 👑

When the replica gets a kprop request from the primary, kpropd accepts the dumped KDC database and places it in a file, and then runs kdb5_util to load that dumped database into the active database — the one that krb5kdc actually uses. Which is the whole point: it lets the primary Kerberos server use kprop to propagate its database out to the replica servers. And once the KDC database file downloads successfully, the replica Kerberos server has an up-to-date KDC database. slay. ✨

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Where incremental propagation is not being used, kpropd is commonly invoked out of inetd(8) as a nowait service. You do that by adding a line to the /etc/inetd.conf file that looks exactly like this:

kprop  stream  tcp  nowait  root  /usr/local/sbin/kpropd  kpropd

kpropd can also run as a standalone daemon — she backgrounds herself and waits for connections on port 754 (or whatever port you specified with the -P option, if you gave one). And heads up: standalone mode is required for incremental propagation. not optional, not a suggestion. 🚨

Starting in release 1.11, kpropd automatically detects whether it was run from inetd and runs in standalone mode if it is not. Prior to release 1.11, the -S option is required to run kpropd in standalone mode; this option is now accepted for backward compatibility but does nothing. it's giving retired icon, we still let her onstage. 💀

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Incremental propagation may be enabled with the iprop_enable variable in kdc.conf. If incremental propagation is enabled, the replica periodically polls the primary KDC for updates, at an interval determined by the iprop_replica_poll variable. If the replica receives updates, kpropd updates its log file with any updates from the primary. kproplog can be used to view a summary of the update entry log on the replica KDC. 🌈

And if incremental propagation is enabled, the principal kiprop/replicahostname@REALM (where replicahostname is the name of the replica KDC host, and REALM is the name of the Kerberos realm) must be present in the replica's keytab file. like, must must. no keytab, no updates, and the vibe check fails. 😭

kproplog can be used to force full replication when iprop is enabled. 💖

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

• -r realm — specifies the realm of the primary server.
• -A admin_server — specifies the server to be contacted for incremental updates; by default, the primary admin server is contacted.
• -f file — specifies the filename where the dumped principal database file is to be stored; by default the dumped database file is /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/from_master.
• -F kerberos_db — path to the Kerberos database file, if it's not the default.
• -p — lets you specify the pathname to the kdb5_util program; by default the pathname used is /usr/bin/kdb5_util.
• -D — in this mode, kpropd will not detach itself from the current job and run in the background. Instead, she runs in the foreground. 🫶
• -d — turn on debug mode. kpropd will print out debugging messages during the database propogation and will run in the foreground (implies -D).
• -P — allow for an alternate port number for kpropd to listen on. This is only useful in combination with the -S option.
• -a acl_file — lets you specify the path to the kpropd.acl file; by default the path used is /var/kerberos/krb5kdc/kpropd.acl.
• --pid-file=pid_file — in standalone mode, write the process ID of the daemon into pid_file.
• -s keytab_file — path to a keytab to use for acquiring acceptor credentials.
• -x db_args — database-specific arguments. See Database Options in kadmin for supported arguments.

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🎀 FILES 🎀

• kpropd.acl — access file for kpropd; the default location is /usr/local/var/krb5kdc/kpropd.acl. Each entry is a line containing the principal of a host from which the local machine will allow Kerberos database propagation via kprop. bestie, this is the guest list. if you're not on it, you're not getting in. 🚪✨

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

See kerberos for a description of Kerberos environment variables. 🧚

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⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• kprop
• kdb5_util
• krb5kdc
• kerberos
• inetd(8)

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💜 Author 💜

MIT

💜 Copyright 💜

1985-2026, MIT

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! 🫶 this was the MIT Kerberos kpropd man page, version 1.22.2, authored by MIT, with the copyright line reading 1985-2026, MIT — go forth and replicate your KDCs responsibly. mwah. 💖💅