17.4.2. The /etc/xinetd.d/ Directory
The /etc/xinetd.d/ directory contains the configuration files for each service managed by xinetd and the names of the files correlate to the service. As with xinetd.conf, this directory is read only when the xinetd service is started. For any changes to take effect, the administrator must restart the xinetd service.
The format of files in the /etc/xinetd.d/ directory use the same conventions as /etc/xinetd.conf. The primary reason the configuration for each service is stored in a separate file is to make customization easier and less likely to effect other services.
To gain an understanding of how these files are structured, consider the /etc/xinetd.d/telnet file:
service telnet { flags = REUSE socket_type = stream wait = no user = root server = /usr/sbin/in.telnetd log_on_failure += USERID disable = yes }
These lines control various aspects of the telnet service:
service — Defines the service name, usually one listed in the /etc/services file.
flags — Sets any of a number of attributes for the connection. REUSE instructs xinetd to reuse the socket for a Telnet connection.
socket_type — Sets the network socket type to stream.
wait — Defines whether the service is single-threaded (yes) or multi-threaded (no).
user — Defines what user ID the process runs under.
server — Defines the binary executable to be launched.
log_on_failure — Defines logging parameters for log_on_failure in addition to those already defined in xinetd.conf.
disable — Defines whether the service is active.