KRB5KDC(8)

NAME
krb5kdc - Kerberos V5 KDC

SYNOPSIS

krb5kdc [-x db_args] [-d dbname] [-k keytype] [-M mkeyname] [-p portnum] [-m] [-r realm] [-n] [-w numworkers] [-P pid_file] [-T time_offset]

DESCRIPTION

krb5kdc is the Kerberos version 5 Authentication Service and Key Distribution Center (AS/KDC).

OPTIONS

The -r realm option specifies the realm for which the server should provide service. This option may be specified multiple times to serve multiple realms. If no -r option is given, the default realm (as specified in krb5.conf) will be served.

The -d dbname option specifies the name under which the principal database can be found. This option does not apply to the LDAP database.

The -k keytype option specifies the key type of the master key to be entered manually as a password when -m is given; the default is aes256-cts-hmac-sha1-96.

The -M mkeyname option specifies the principal name for the master key in the database (usually K/M in the KDC's realm).

The -m option specifies that the master database password should be fetched from the keyboard rather than from a stash file.

The -n option specifies that the KDC does not put itself in the background and does not disassociate itself from the terminal.

The -P pid_file option tells the KDC to write its PID into pid_file after it starts up. This can be used to identify whether the KDC is still running and to allow init scripts to stop the correct process.

The -p portnum option specifies the default UDP and TCP port numbers which the KDC should listen on for Kerberos version 5 requests, as a comma-separated list. This value overrides the port numbers specified in the [kdcdefaults] section of kdc.conf, but may be overridden by realm-specific values. If no value is given from any source, the default port is 88.

The -w numworkers option tells the KDC to fork numworkers processes to listen to the KDC ports and process requests in parallel. The top level KDC process (whose pid is recorded in the pid file if the -P option is also given) acts as a supervisor. The supervisor will relay SIGHUP signals to the worker subprocesses, and will terminate the worker subprocess if the it is itself terminated or if any other worker process exits.

The -x db_args option specifies database-specific arguments. See Database Options in kadmin for supported arguments.

The -T offset option specifies a time offset, in seconds, which the KDC will operate under. It is intended only for testing purposes.

EXAMPLE

The KDC may service requests for multiple realms (maximum 32 realms). The realms are listed on the command line. Per-realm options that can be specified on the command line pertain for each realm that follows it and are superseded by subsequent definitions of the same option.

For example:

    krb5kdc -p 2001 -r REALM1 -p 2002 -r REALM2 -r REALM3

specifies that the KDC listen on port 2001 for REALM1 and on port 2002 for REALM2 and REALM3. Additionally, per-realm parameters may be specified in the kdc.conf file. The location of this file may be specified by the KRB5_KDC_PROFILE environment variable. Per-realm parameters specified in this file take precedence over options specified on the command line. See the kdc.conf description for further details.

ENVIRONMENT

See kerberos for a description of Kerberos environment variables.

As of release 1.22, krb5kdc supports systemd socket activation via the LISTEN_PID and LISTEN_FDS environment variables. Sockets provided by the caller must correspond to configured listener addresses (via the kdc_listen variable or equivalent) or they will be ignored. Any configured listener addresses that do not correspond to caller-provided sockets will be ignored if socket activation is used.

SEE ALSO

kdb5_util, kdc.conf, krb5.conf, kdb5_ldap_util, kerberos

AUTHOR
MIT

COPYRIGHT
1985-2025, MIT