key_gendes Subroutine

Important: The subroutine is exported from both the libc and the libnsl libraries.

key_gendes Subroutine Exported from the libc Library

Purpose

Asks the keyserv daemon for a secure conversation key.

Library

C Library (libc.a)

Syntax

#include <rpc/rpc.h>

key_gendes ( deskey) des_block *deskey;

Description

The key_gendes subroutine interfaces to the keyserv daemon, which is associated with the secure authentication system known as Data Encryption Standard (DES). This subroutine asks the keyserv daemon for a secure conversation key. Choosing a key at random is not recommended because the common ways of choosing random numbers, such as the current time, are easy to guess. User programs rarely need to call this subroutine. System commands such as keylogin and the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) library are the main clients.

Parameters

Item	Description
deskey	Points to the des_block structure.

Return Values

Upon successful completion, this subroutine returns a value of 0. If unsuccessful, it returns a value of -1.

key_gendes Subroutine Exported from the libnsl Library

Purpose

Gets a secure conversation key from the keyserver daemon.

Library

Network Services Library (libnsl.a)

Syntax

#include <rpc/rpc.h>

int key_gendes ( deskey)
des_block *deskey;

Description

The key_gendes subroutine, which belongs to the secure remote procedure call (RPC) category, is an interface subroutine to the keyserver daemon. The conversation key that is used to encrypt the timestamp is usually chosen at random. However, choosing a key at random is not suggested because the common ways of choosing random key, such as the current time, are not secure. Therefore, the key_gendes subroutine asks the keyserver daemon for a secure conversation key.

Note: The keyserv daemon must be running for this subroutine to work.

Parameters

Item	Description
deskey	Specifies the secure conversation key after successful completion.

Return Values

Item	Description
0	successful
-1	unsuccessful

Examples

#include <rpc/rpc.h>
int main()
{
  char    name[255]; /* contains netname of owner of server process */
  char    rhost[255]; /* Remote host name on which server resides */ 
  rpcprog_t  PROGNUM = 0x3fffffffL;
  rpcvers_t  PROGVER = 0x1L;
  CLIENT  *clnt;
  des_block  dblock;

  /* Obtain network name of remote host */
  if (!host2netname(name, rhost, NULL)) 
  {
    fprintf(stderr, "\nhost2netname() failed\n");
    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
  }

  if (key_gendes(&dblock) == -1) {
    fprintf(stderr, "\nkey_gendes() failed\n");
    exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
  }

  /* Create a client handle for remote host rhost 
   *for PROGNUM & PROGVER on tcp transport 
   */
  clnt = clnt_create(rhost, PROGNUM, PROGVER, "tcp");
  if (clnt == (CLIENT *) NULL) {
    fprintf(stderr,"client_create() error\n");
    exit(1);
  }

  clnt->cl_auth = authdes_seccreate(name, 80, rhost, &dblock);

  /* 
   * Make a call to clnt_call() subroutine 
   */

  /* Destroy the authentication handle */
  auth_destroy(clnt->cl_auth);
  
  /* Destroy the client handle in the end */
  clnt_destroy(clnt);

  return 0;
}