kadmind(1M) System Administration Commands kadmind(1M)
NAME
kadmind - Kerberos administration daemon
SYNOPSIS
/usr/lib/krb5/kadmind [-d] [-m] [-p port-number] [-r realm]
-x db_args]...
DESCRIPTION
kadmind runs on the master key distribution center (KDC), which stores the principal and policy databases. kadmind accepts remote requests
to administer the information in these databases. Remote requests are sent, for example, by kpasswd(1), gkadmin(1M), and kadmin(1M) com-
mands, all of which are clients of kadmind. When you install a KDC, kadmind is set up in the init scripts to start automatically when the
KDC is rebooted.
kadmind requires a number of configuration files to be set up for it to work:
/etc/krb5/kdc.conf
The KDC configuration file contains configuration information for the KDC and the Kerberos administration system. kadmind understands a
number of configuration variables (called relations) in this file, some of which are mandatory and some of which are optional. In par-
ticular, kadmind uses the acl_file, dict_file, admin_keytab, and kadmind_port relations in the [realms] section. Refer to the
kdc.conf(4) man page for information regarding the format of the KDC configuration file.
/etc/krb5/kadm5.keytab
kadmind requires a keytab (key table) containing correct entries for the kadmin/fqdn, kadmin/changepw and kadmin/changepw principals
for every realm that kadmind answers requests. The keytab can be created with the kadmin.local(1M) or kdb5_util(1M) command. The loca-
tion of the keytab is determined by the admin_keytab relation in the kdc.conf(4) file.
/etc/krb5/kadm5.acl
kadmind uses an ACL (access control list) to determine which principals are allowed to perform Kerberos administration actions. The
path of the ACL file is determined by the acl_file relation in the kdc.conf file. See kdc.conf(4). For information regarding the format
of the ACL file, refer to kadm5.acl(4).
The kadmind daemon will need to be restarted to reread the kadm5.acl file after it has been modified. You can do this, as root, with
the following command:
# svcadm restart svc:/network/security/kadmin:default
After kadmind begins running, it puts itself in the background and disassociates itself from its controlling terminal.
kadmind can be configured for incremental database propagation. Incremental propagation allows slave KDC servers to receive principal and
policy updates incrementally instead of receiving full dumps of the database. These settings can be changed in the kdc.conf(4) file:
sunw_dbprop_enable = [true | false]
Enable or disable incremental database propagation. Default is false.
sunw_dbprop_master_ulogsize = N
Specifies the maximum amount of log entries available for incremental propagation to the slave KDC servers. The maximum value that this
can be is 2500 entries. Default value is 1000 entries.
The kiprop/<hostname>@<REALM> principal must exist in the master's kadm5.keytab file to enable the slave to authenticate incremental propa-
gation from the master. In the principal syntax above, <hostname> is the master KDC's host name and <REALM> is the realm in which the mas-
ter KDC resides.
Kerberos client machines can automatically migrate Unix users to the default Kerberos realm specified in the local krb5.conf(4), if the
user does not have a valid kerberos account already. You achieve this by using the pam_krb5_migrate(5) service module for the service in
question. The Kerberos service principal used by the client machine attempting the migration needs to be validated using the u privilege in
kadm5.acl(4). When using the u privilege, kadmind validates user passwords using PAM, specifically using a PAM_SERVICE name of k5migrate by
calling pam_authenticate(3PAM) and pam_acct_mgmt(3PAM).
A suitable PAM stack configuration example for k5migrate would look like:
k5migrate auth required pam_unix_auth.so.1
k5migrate account required pam_unix_account.so.1
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-d
Specifies that kadmind does not put itself in the background and does not disassociate itself from the terminal. In normal operation,
you should use the default behavior, which is to allow the daemon to put itself in the background.
-m
Specifies that the master database password should be retrieved from the keyboard rather than from the stash file. When using -m, the
kadmind daemon receives the password prior to putting itself in the background. If used in combination with the -d option, you must
explicitly place the daemon in the background.
-p port-number
Specifies the port on which the kadmind daemon listens for connections. The default is controlled by the kadmind_port relation in the
kdc.conf(4) file.
-r realm
Specifies the default realm that kadmind serves. If realm is not specified, the default realm of the host is used. kadmind answers
requests for any realm that exists in the local KDC database and for which the appropriate principals are in its keytab.
-x db_args
Pass database-specific arguments to kadmind. Supported arguments are for LDAP and the Berkeley-db2 plug-in. These arguments are:
binddn=binddn
LDAP simple bind DN for authorization on the directory server. Overrides the ldap_kadmind_dn parameter setting in krb5.conf(4).
bindpwd=bindpwd
Bind password.
dbname=name
For the Berkeley-db2 plug-in, specifies a name for the Kerberos database.
nconns=num
Maximum number of server connections.
port=num
Directory server connection port.
FILES
/var/krb5/principal
Kerberos principal database.
/var/krb5/principal.ulog
The update log file for incremental propagation.
/var/krb5/principal.kadm5
Kerberos administrative database containing policy information.
/var/krb5/principal.kadm5.lock
Kerberos administrative database lock file. This file works backwards from most other lock files (that is, kadmin exits with an error
if this file does not exist).
/var/krb5/kadm5.dict
Dictionary of strings explicitly disallowed as passwords.
/etc/krb5/kadm5.acl
List of principals and their kadmin administrative privileges.
/etc/krb5/kadm5.keytab
Keytab for kadmin principals: kadmin/fqdn, changepw/fqdn, and kadmin/changepw.
/etc/krb5/kdc.conf
KDC configuration information.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWkdcu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface Stability |Evolving |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
kpasswd(1), svcs(1), gkadmin(1M), kadmin(1M), kadmin.local(1M), kdb5_util(1M), kdb5_ldap_util(1M), kproplog(1M), svcadm(1M),
pam_acct_mgmt(3PAM), pam_authenticate(3PAM), kadm5.acl(4), kdc.conf(4), krb5.conf(4), attributes(5), kerberos(5), krb5envvar(5),
pam_krb5_migrate(5), smf(5)
NOTES
The Kerberos administration daemon (kadmind) is now compliant with the change-password standard mentioned in RFC 3244, which means it can
now handle change-password requests from non-Solaris Kerberos clients.
The kadmind service is managed by the service management facility, smf(5), under the service identifier:
svc:/network/security/kadmin
Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(1M). The ser-
vice's status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.
SunOS 5.11 29 Feb 2008 kadmind(1M)