config hosts.equiv

[Fernando Ferri Wollner]

i have a hostA trying to rlogin in hostB. I have already configure /etc/hosts.equiv in hostB, it continues to ask for password.
Any ideas, is there anything else?

Thanks

[Pete Randall · Accepted solution]

Are you logging in as root? If so, you will need a .rhosts file in root's home directory. I generally put both the .rhost file and the hosts.equiv file on both servers.


Pete

[Sridhar Bhaskarla]

Hi,

First make sure the syntax is correct in hosts.equiv. Secondly, ensure hostA is coming in as hostA on hostB. To verify it run "inetd -l" on hostB and keep a "tail -f /var/adm/syslog/syslog.log" open. Then telnet to hostB from hostA and see the hostname that got logged in syslog.log. It should match the one you specified in hosts.equiv file.

I would suggest you use ssh's public/private key authentication instead of the insecured r-commands.

-Sri

[Jeff_Traigle]

What user are you trying to rlogin as? hosts.equiv has no effect on root... you must use .rhosts in that case.

If it's regular user accounts you're having problems with, a possibility is hostname resolution problems if you put the hostname in hosts.equiv. Could also possibly be permissions on hosts.equiv... might need to be world readable.

[doug mielke]

Also, for some applications I've had to add the servers own name to it's .rhosts file. (some sort of reverse auth?)

[Bharat Katkar]

Hi There,

1. For super user hosts.equiv is ignored, in that case use .rhosts file on root.

2. For any other user hosts.equiv files can be used.

3. .rhosts file overrides hosts.equiv

Contents of the file are as follows:

.rhosts
hostname1
hostname2 username
+ username
+

hosts.equiv
hostname
hostname username

Hope this helps.

Regards,

[doug mielke]

and a quote from one of the O'Reilly books on Unix security, in the section where it explains the .rhosts file.
"THIS FILE SHOULD NEVER EXIST ON A UNIX SYSTEM"