PasswordService(8)					    BSD System Manager's Manual 					PasswordService(8)

NAME

     PasswordService -- Mac OS X Server Password Server daemon

SYNOPSIS

     PasswordService [-help | -ver]

     PasswordService [-n]

DESCRIPTION

     In the first synopsis form, PasswordService prints a usage summary or version information and quits.  In the second form, PasswordService
     acts as a password server.

     PasswordService must be run as root; it will exit otherwise. If there is another instance of PasswordService running, it will exit.

     The PasswordService daemon acts as the gatekeeper for user passwords and provides an authentication resource for all services running on the
     system. The standard way to communicate with PasswordService is to use the DirectoryService API. Services authenticate via the dsDoDirN-
     odeAuth() function call.  If the user being authenticated has an AuthenticationAuthority attribute that begins with ";ApplePasswordServer;"
     the request is routed to PasswordService for authentication. Normally, the users in an Open Directory LDAP server are managed through Pass-
     wordService.  The DirectoryService buffer formats for each authentication mechanism are documented in the DirServicesConst.h header file.
     Some of the common methods supported are: APOP, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, MS-CHAPv2, NTLMv2 and NTLMv1.

     Some authentication methods require recoverable passwords. If APOP, TWOWAYRANDOM, or WEBDAV-DIGEST are enabled, the password database must
     contain recoverable passwords.

     The PasswordService daemon enforces password policies, such as the minimum number of characters allowed or when a password change is
     required. See pwpolicy(8) for more information about password policies.

     PasswordService writes three log files; the server log contains all significant activity; the replication log contains information about syn-
     chronization with other password servers; the error log contains major error conditions.

OPTIONS

     The following options are available:

     -n    Do not daemonize.

USAGE

     In typical usage, PasswordService is launched during the boot process by launchd. To start and stop PasswordService manually, use
     launchctl(8) commands.  This command updates the configuration files and effect the startup state.

FILES &; FOLDERS
     /usr/sbin/PasswordService - the password service daemon
     /Library/Logs/PasswordService/ApplePasswordServer.Error.log - the error log
     /Library/Logs/PasswordService/ApplePasswordServer.Replication.log - the replication log
     /Library/Logs/PasswordService/ApplePasswordServer.Server.log - the activity log
     /var/db/authserver/authservermain - password database (guard this)
     /var/db/authserver/authserverfree - list of free (reusable) slots in the database

SEE ALSO

     mkpassdb(8) launchctl(8) pwpolicy(8)

Mac OS X Server 						 21 February 2002						   Mac OS X Server