Do we need identd?

[Thomas Schler_1]

Hi,

I'm wondering if it is necessary to have identd activitated in /etc/inetd.conf.

What is the purpose of this daemon? Can I deactivate it without problems?

Some users argument, this daemon would be the cause for receiving so many advertisement emails once they have hanging around in the WWW and visiting "strange" sites (commercial ones, I guess). So, they want me to disable identd.

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

For more information on identd do a 'man identd'. Here is an excerpt:

identd is a server which implements the TCP/IP proposed standard IDENT user identification protocol as specified in the RFC 1413 document.

identd operates by looking up specific TCP/IP connections and returning the user name of the process owning the connection.

I kind of doubt the identd is why users are getting advertisements after surfing to some sites. I also doubt that you would hurt anything by disableing it. I have it disabled on my machine and have never seen a need for it.

[Ralf Hildebrandt]

NO. Identd info can easily be forged. YOu only need it on systems with lots of users.