rpcbind(1Mtcp)

rpcbind -- universal addresses to RPC program number mapper

Synopsis

rpcbind [-dq]

Description

rpcbind is a server that converts RPC program numbers into universal addresses. It must be running to make RPC calls.

When an RPC service is started, it will tell rpcbind at what address it is listening, and what RPC program numbers it is prepared to serve. When a client wishes to make an RPC call to a given program number, it will first contact rpcbind on the server machine to determine the address where RPC packets should be sent.

rpcbind permits partial success. That is, if it can start on at least one loopback provider it will continue, even if it fails on the other loopback providers and on all of the non-loopback providers like TCP and UDP.

Options

rpcbind takes the following options:

-d: Print debugging information for each of the visible transport providers in /etc/netconfig.
-q: Do not print error messages, except for messages associated with fatal errors during rpcbind startup.

Usage

Normally, standard RPC servers are started by port monitors, so rpcbind must be started before port monitors are invoked. If rpcbind fails to start on a transport provider listed in the file /etc/netconfig, it issues a warning message about the problem provider, then attempts to start itself on the remaining providers.

rpcbind is restricted to users with the root user ID.

Warnings

If rpcbind crashes, all RPC servers must be restarted.

If the rpcbind daemon fails to start, the name of the machine may be different from that in the /etc/net/*/hosts files. This can occur if the machine name is changed with the uname(1) command.

To see if rpcbind is running, enter

nfsping -o rpcbind

If a message is displayed that states rpcbind is not running, check the name of the system (uname -n) with the entries in the /etc/net//hosts files, and see if they match.

If they do not match, your machine has had its name changed with the uname command, and the hostname entries in the /etc/net//hosts files must be manually updated.

For example, if the machine's hostname was hulk (use uname -n), the first entry in each of the /etc/net//hosts files should look like:

   hulk    hulk

If the first entry in each of the /etc/net/*/hosts files do not match the machine's hostname, you must update the first entry in the /etc/net/*/hosts files, and restart the rpcbind daemon. To restart rpcbind, enter:

/usr/sbin/rpcbind

References

netconfig(4bnu), nfsping(1nfs), rpcinfo(1tcp), uname(1)