keyserv(1Mbnu)

keyserv -- server for storing public and private keys

Synopsis

keyserv [-dDn]

Description

keyserv is a daemon that is used for storing the private encryption keys of each user logged into the system. These encryption keys are used for accessing secure network services such as secure RPC.

Options

keyserv takes the following options:

-d: Disables the use of default keys
-D: Used for debugging
-n: root's key is not read from /etc/.rootkey. Instead, keyserv prompts the user for the password to decrypt root's key stored in the publickey(4bnu) database and then stores the decrypted key in /etc/.rootkey for future use. This option is useful if the /etc/.rootkey file ever gets out of date or corrupted.

Files

/etc/.rootkey

Usage

Normally, root's key is read from the file /etc/.rootkey when the daemon is started. This is useful during power-fail reboots when no one is around to type a password.

To start keyserv manually, you must be root with the appropriate privileges.

References

keylogin(1bnu), keylogout(1bnu), newkey(1Mbnu), publickey(4bnu)