rsh gives connection refused but .rhost configured

[Frank de Vries]

What configuration do I need to check in order
to solve this ?

audibxua0001:~ # rsh -K -l root audibxua0001 uname -a
audibxua0001.vwbx.emea.vwg: Connection refused

audibxua0001:~ # uname -a
Linux audibxua0001 2.6.16.21-0.8-smp #1 SMP Mon Jul 3 18:25:39 UTC 2006 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
audibxua0001:~ # rsh -l root audibxua0001 uname -a
audibxua0001.vwbx.emea.vwg: Connection refused
audibxua0001:~ #

On the other side the .rhosts file looks okay:
audibxug0001:~ # more .rhosts
audibxua0001 root
orasrv1 root
orasrv2 root
audibxug0001:~ #

Both machines are on the same lan segment.
Dns is correctly configured, I checked all
with nslookup.
What else do I need to check ?

[Stuart Browne · Accepted solution]

Three things:

1) Unless you've specifically allowed the 'root' user to 'rsh' in, it will be rejected. However, it will be rejected with a different message :)

2) Have you installed the 'rsh-server' as well as enabling the service in your super-server (inetd/xinetd) ? Most modern distributions do *not* come with an 'rsh-server' installed by default.

3) Is the firewall allowing tcp port 514 into the box?

[MonitKapoor]

In addition to enabling the rsh in xinetd you'll also need to check if rsh is added to /etc/securetty for allowing remote root logins.

Also ensure you have the following in the /etc/pam.d/rsh:

auth required /lib/security/pam_rhosts_auth.so