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tftpd(1M)

HP-UX 11i Version 3: February 2007
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NAME

tftpd — trivial file transfer protocol server

SYNOPSIS

/usr/lbin/tftpd [-l] [-R retran-seconds] [-r blksize|timeout|tsize] [-s] [-T total-seconds] [-L port] [-U port] [path ...]

DESCRIPTION

tftpd is a server that supports the Internet Trivial File Transfer Protocol (RFC783). The TFTP server operates at the port indicated in the tftp service description (see services(4)). The server is normally started by inetd using the /etc/inetd.conf file (see inetd(1M) and inetd.conf(4)).

Options

tftpd supports the following options:

-l

This option writes the debugging information into the syslog file.

-R

This option specifies the per-packet retransmission timeout, in seconds. The default value is 5 seconds.

-r blksize|timeout|tsize

This option disables the client side options: blksize (blocksize), timeout (retransmission timeout), and tsize (transfer file size) individually. By default, these options are enabled. For example, to disable timeout negotiation between a client and the server, start the server with the following command:

tftpd -r timeout

-s

This option enables tftpd to work in the Service Guard environment. This option is required for some tftp clients. These clients reject the tftp reply received from a different IP address than the one requested when the server's interface is configured with an alias IP address.

-T

This option specifies the total retransmission timeout, in seconds. The default value is 25 seconds.

-L port

This option specifies the lower limit of the port range for data transfer.

-U port

This option specifies the upper limit of the port range for data transfer.

NOTE: The NDD tunables should be considered before defining the -L and -U options. If the -L option is defined without using the -U option, the upper limit is set to 65535. If the -U option is defined without using the -L option, the lower limit is set to 1024.

The path parameter has the following effects:

  • tftpd operates in either of two modes or their combination. The first mode requires a defined home directory for the pseudo-user tftp, and looks for files relative to that path. The second mode requires one or more paths be specified on the command line, and allows access only to files whose paths match or begin with one of the command line specifications. The first mode is backward-compatible with previous releases of HP-UX and supports somewhat tighter security. The second mode is compatible with other vendors' implementations of tftpd and allows greater flexibility in accessing files.

  • If no path is specified on the command line, tftpd requires an entry in the /etc/passwd database (see passwd(4)) for an account (pseudo-user) named tftp. The password field should be *, the group membership should be guest, and the login shell should be /usr/bin/false. For example (assuming the guest group ID is 101):

    tftp:*:510:101:tftp server:/home/tftpdir:/usr/bin/false

    tftpd uses a call to chroot() to change its root directory to be the same as the home directory of the pseudo-user tftp. This restricts access by tftp clients to only those files found below the tftp home directory (see chroot(2)). Furthermore, tftp clients can only read files in that directory if they are readable by the pseudo-user tftp, and tftp clients can only write files in that directory if they exist and are writable by the pseudo-user tftp.

  • If any path is specified on the command line, tftpd does not require that a pseudo-user named tftp exist in /etc/passwd. The specified paths control access to files by tftp clients. Each path is treated as being relative to / (not the tftp home directory), and can be either a directory or a file. tftpd disallows a client access to any file that does not match entirely or in its initial components one of the restriction paths. It also disallows access to any file path containing ``..''. However, an accessed file can be a symbolic link that points outside the set of restricted paths.

  • If any path is specified on the command line and the tftp home directory is defined and is not /, tftpd first looks for a file relative to (under) the home directory. If the file is not found there, then tftpd looks for the file relative to / with path restrictions applied. Thus if two files with the same name can be found in both locations, tftpd accesses the one under tftp's home directory.

Note that inetd allows continuation of command lines in inetd.conf by ending continued lines with a backlash.

Defining the tftp pseudo-user is strongly recommended even when paths are specified, because client access is further restricted to files that can be read and/or written by this pseudo-user. It is safe to set the tftp pseudo-user's home directory to / in this case.

DIAGNOSTICS

The following diagnostics are logged to the syslogd facility at the err log level (see syslogd(1M)).

No security mechanism exists

The pseudo-user tftp was not found in the password database (/etc/passwd), and tftpd was invoked without any path arguments.

Add or correct the entry for the pseudo-user tftp in the password database /etc/passwd. Or, add an access list (path arguments) to the tftpd arguments in the inetd configuration file /etc/inetd.conf. Reconfigure inetd with the command inetd -c.

Unknown option option ignored

An invalid option was specified in the tftpd arguments in the inetd configuration file /etc/inetd.conf.

Remove or correct the option. Restart inetd with the command inetd -c.

Invalid total timeout value

The value given for the -T option was not a number or was a negative number.

Correct the value given for the -T option. Reconfigure inetd with the command inetd -c.

Invalid retransmission timeout value

The value given for the -R option was not a number or was a negative number.

Correct the value given for the -R option. Reconfigure inetd with the command inetd -c.

system call:

The named system call failed. See the corresponding manual entry for a description of the system call. The reason for the failure is explained in the error message appended to the system call.

WARNINGS

When invoked with no path arguments, tftpd cannot follow symbolic links that refer to paths outside of the home directory of the pseudo-user tftp, because it performs a chroot().

AUTHOR

tftpd was developed by the University of California, Berkeley, and Hewlett-Packard.

STANDARDS CONFORMANCE

tftpd: RFC783, RFC2347, RFC2348, RFC2349.

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