SAMBA-DCERPCD(8)

NAME
samba-dcerpcd - This is one of Samba's DCERPC server processes that can listen on sockets where RPC services are offered and is the parent process of the DCERPC services it invokes. Unless separately invoked it is started on demand from smbd or winbind and serves DCERPC only over named pipes (np) as a helper process. This will be the standard setup for most installations (standalone/member server/AD server) unless they modify their startup scripts. Note in when Samba is configured as an Active Directory Domain controller the samba process that invokes smbd will still provide its normal DCERPC services, not samba-dcerpcd. When separately invoked by system startup scripts or a daemon, the global smb.conf option rpc start on demand helpers = false MUST be set to allow samba-dcerpcd to start standalone.

SYNOPSIS

samba-dcerpcd [-D|--daemon] [-i|--interactive] [-F|--foreground] [--no-process-group] [-d <debug level>] [--debug-stdout] [--configfile=<configuration file>] [--option=<name>=<value>] [--leak-report] [--leak-report-full] [-V|--version] [--libexec-rpcds] [--np-helper] [--ready-signal-fd=<fd>] [<SERVICE_1>] [<SERVICE_2>] [<...>]

DESCRIPTION

This tool is part of the samba(7) suite.

samba-dcerpcd can be used in two ways. In the normal case without startup script modification and the global smb.conf option rpc start on demand helpers = true is set (the default setting), it is invoked on demand from smbd or winbind with a command line containing --np-helper to serve DCERPC over named pipes (np). It can also be used in a standalone mode where it is started separately from smbd or winbind via system startup scripts. If invoked as a standalone daemon or started from system startup scripts the global smb.conf option rpc start on demand helpers = false MUST be set to false. If the global smb.conf option rpc start on demand helpers = true is set to true or left as default, samba-dcerpcd will fail to start and log an error message.

Note that when Samba is run in the Active Directory Domain Controller mode the samba AD code will still provide its normal DCERPC services whilst allowing samba-dcerpcd to provide services like SRVSVC in the same way that smbd used to in this configuration.

The standalone mode can also be useful for use outside of the Samba framework, for example, use with the Linux kernel SMB2 server ksmbd or possibly other SMB2 server implementations. In this mode it behaves like inetd and listens on sockets on behalf of RPC server implementations.

When a client connects, samba-dcerpcd will start the relevant RPC service binary on demand and hand over the connection to that service. When an RPC service has been idle for a while, samba-dcerpcd will ask it to shut down again.

OPTIONS

-D|--daemon
    If specified, this parameter causes the server to operate as a daemon. That is, it detaches itself and runs in the background, fielding requests on the appropriate port. Operating the server as a daemon is useful for running samba-dcerpcd outside of the Samba framework. However, it can also be used in this way within Samba for member servers if configured to start up via system startup scripts. This switch is assumed if samba-dcerpcd is executed on the command line of a shell.

-i|--interactive
    If this parameter is specified it causes the server to run "interactively", not as a daemon, even if the server is executed on the command line of a shell. Setting this parameter negates the implicit daemon mode when run from the command line. samba-dcerpcd will only accept one connection and terminate. It will also log to standard output, as if the -S parameter had been given.

-F|--foreground
    If specified, this parameter causes the main samba-dcerpcd process to not daemonize, i.e. double-fork and disassociate with the terminal. Child processes are still spawned as normal to service each connection request, but the main process does not exit. This operation mode is suitable for running samba-dcerpcd under process supervisors such as supervise and svscan from Daniel J. Bernstein's daemontools package, or the AIX process monitor.

--no-process-group
    Do not create a new process group for samba-dcerpcd.

--libexec-rpcds
    Offer RPC services for all daemons in Samba's LIBEXECDIR, all programs starting with "rpcd_" are assumed to offer RPC services. If you don't use the --libexec-rpcds option, you can explicitly list all RPC service helpers explicitly on the command line.

--np-helper
    Run samba-dcerpcd on demand opening named pipe sockets as helpers for smbd or winbind. In order to run in this mode, the global smb.conf option rpc start on demand helpers = true must be set to true (this is the default setting).

--ready-signal-fd=<fd>
    Report service readiness via this fd to smbd or winbind. Only for internal use.

AUTHOR

The original Samba software and related utilities were created by Andrew Tridgell. Samba is now developed by the Samba Team as an Open Source project similar to the way the Linux kernel is developed.