Services

Linux Startup Services:

Startup services are services run at boot time. They may be provided by daemon programs
running in the background or are one time only programs run during the bootup to provide some
function to the system. This section gives a brief overview of these services. This section
outlines those services that can be started using Redhat's linuxconf program. Not all are
necessarily daemon programs. Also it is possible to set up other startup programs, daemons, or
services that are not included in this list. There are 3 basic categories to these services.

 A one time only program run at bootup to provide a function to the system such as
kudzu, or keytable.
 A program run as a daemon upon startup that provides system services such as gpm,
autofs, cron, and atd.
 A program run as a daemon upon startup that provides networking services such as
dhcpd, bootparamd, arpwatch, gated, and httpd.

amd Runs the automount daemon for remote filesystem mounting such as nfs.
apmd Monitors battery status and can shut down the system if power is low.
Keeps track of ethernet IP address parings what are resolved using the ARP
arpwatch protocol. This allows system administrators to note new IP addresses being
used. It maintains a database in /var/arpwatch/arp.dat.
Runs commands scheduled by the "at" program at their scheduled times. Jobs
atd
are stored in /var/spool/at
Also called the automount daemon, it is used to automatically mount
autofs filesystems on demand. It is especially worthwhile for working with
removeable media such as floppies or CD ROM disks.
Allows remote computers to boot from a Linux box using the BOOTP network
protocol. This allows the remote computer to get its IP address if the server
bootparamd
knows the hardware address of the remote machine. The DHCP protocol is an
upgrade to this protocol since it is more automated.
A daeman that executes scheduled commands according to the /etc/crontab file.
crond
It can be used to clean up temporary files in /tmp and /var/tmp and other places.
dhcpd Provides DHCP services to "lease" out IP addresses to remote machines.
firewall
Provides routing services for BGP and other protocols. Alternative to routed.
gated Supports IGP (Interior gateway protocol) and EGP (Exterior Gateway
Protocol).
gpm Provides mouse support to Linux.
httpd The Apache hypertext transfer protocol Web server.
identd Server implementing the TCP/IP proposed standard IDENT user identification

Page 1 of 4
 protocol in RFC 1413. It returns user information to a remote host that a user is
requesting a service from. Also called auth.
The internet super daemon (inetd) that provides all the services specified in
inet
/etc/inetd.conf.
innd The Usenet news server
Provides ISDN (networking interface) services. See the isdnctrl man page for
more information. The isdnctrl program is used to set up isdn interfaces.
isdn
Pertinent files are /etc/sysconfig/activeisdn, /dev/isnnctrl,
/etc/sysconfig/provider, and /var/log/isdn.log.
Loads the appropriate keyboard map from /etc/sysconfig/keyboard. This does
keytable not set up a daemon program to reside in the background, but just loads the
keyboard keytable and the system font.
Detects and configures new or changed hardware on a system. This program is
kudzu run once when the system boots and does not run as a daemon in the
background.
Lightweight directory access protocol package which provides client/server
ldap based directory database services which runs on UNIX platforms over TCP/IP.
RFC is 1777.
According to Redhat it is a post startup hook for linuxconf. It does not run as a
linuxconf
daemon.
lpd Provides printing services to Linux. It is a print spooler daemon.
Loads the MARS Netware compatible file and print server daemon called
mars-nwe nwserv. Allows a Linux machine to be used as a file and printserver for netware
based clients using IPX/SPX.
Allows users on remote machines to use the midcommander file manager to
mcserv
work with files. It uses the PAM library for authentication.
Provides DNS services. It is a name server used to translate local IP addresses
named
to names and vice-versa.
Mounts and unmounts Network Fils System (NFS), Windows (SMB), and
netfs Netware (NCP) file systems. The mount command is used to perform this
operation and no daemon is run in the background.
Brings up all the network interfaces under the directory /etc/sysconfig/network-
network
scripts. Also controls IP_forwarding and IP_defrag.
nfs Provides Network File System server services
NFS file locking service. Starts the daemons rpc.locked and rpc.statd. The
rpc.statd daemon implements the Network Status Monitor (NSM) RPC protocol
nfslock
which is a reboot notification service used to implement file lock recovery
when an NFS server crashes and reboots.
The name switch cache daemon. which handles password and group lookups
nscd for running programs and caches the information for the next query. Normally
this daemon is used to support NIS.
Provides access to PCMCIA (PC Cards) services configured in the /etc/exports
pcmcia
file.
portmap Provides Remote Procedure Call (RPC) support for other protocols like NFS.

Page 2 of 4
 Runs the postgres database and provides SQL services. It runs the daemon
postgresql
postmaster.
Heartbeat daemon for monitoring the health of lvs (Redhat clustering services)
pulse
cluster nodes. This tool is used for clustering machines.
A preboot execution environment (PXE) server. Allows network boot of other
pxe PXE machines. PXE is a standard developed by Intel for a means of booting
various operating systems on remote machines.
Saves and restores a random value used to generate better random numbers for
random
security. No daemon program is invoked for this operation.
Provides for automatic router table updates using the RIP dynamic routing
routed
information protocol.
The rstat protocol allows users on a network to get performance information for
any machine on the network. Runs the rpc.rstatd daemon which provides
rstatd
performance statistics retrieved from the kernel usually by using the "rup"
command.
rusersd Provides services that allow users to find one another over the network.
Provides users with an ability to use the rwall command to write messages on
rwalld
remote terminals.
The rwho protocol lets remote users get a list of all users logged onto a machine
rwhod
by running the rwho daemon.
The sendmail mail transport agent daemon used to move e-mail from one
sendmail
machine to another.
Provides SMB (Samba) client/server services which include file and print
smb services. It allows Linux computers to exchange file and printer services with
Microsoft Windows based systems.
snmpd Provides Simple Network Management Protocol support to Linux.
squid Runs the squid proxy web server
System logging daemon which records system events to log files usually in the
syslog
directory "/var/log". The actual name of the daemon is klogd.
xfs X font file server
Starts the Network Time Protocol NTPv3 daemon. NTP provides a means to
xntpd synchronize time and coordinate time distribution in a large, diverse internet
operating at all speeds. RFC 1305 describes this protocol.
Binds YP/NIS clients to a yellow pages server. NIS (Network Information
ypbind
Service) is a name service created by Sun.
yppasswdd Allows users to change their passwords on systems running YP/NIS
This daemon provides the YP/NIS (Network Information System) server
ypserv
functions.

Linux Deamons

This section gives a brief overview of miscellaneous daemons (not covered in the paragraph on
services) running on the system and their function.

Page 3 of 4
 The first process to start after the kernel. It controls the system runlevel and
init
adapts any child whose parent dies.
Responds to netbios name service requests for Samba works in conjunction
nmbd
with Samba which is why it is not mentioned under startup services..
Does a sync every 30 seconds. A sync is an updating of memory pages, or
update (kupdate) virtual memory pages that have been changed, but not saved to the swap
disk
bdflush (kflushd) Started by update - does a more imperfect sync more frequently
(kpiod)
(kswapd)
getty Listens for connections at terminals

Page 4 of 4