Linux Startup Services

Startup services are services run at boot time. They may be provided by daemon programs running in the background or are one time only programs run during the bootup to provide some function to the system. Here we can have a brief overview of these services. Those services that can be started using Redhat's linuxconf program. Not all are necessarily daemon programs. Also it is possible to set up other startup programs, daemons, or services that are not included in this list. There are 3 basic categories to these services.

• A one time only program run at bootup to provide a function to the system such as kudzu, or keytable.
• A program run as a daemon upon startup that provides system services such as gpm, autofs, cron, and atd.
• A program run as a daemon upon startup that provides networking services such as dhcpd, bootparamd, arpwatch, gated, and httpd.

amd		Runs the automount daemon for remote filesystem mounting such as nfs.
apmd		Monitors battery status and can shut down the system if power is low.
arpwatch		Keeps track of ethernet IP address parings what are resolved using the ARP protocol. This allows system administrators to note new IP addresses being used. It maintains a database in /var/arpwatch/arp.dat.
atd		Runs commands scheduled by the "at" program at their scheduled times. Jobs are stored in /var/spool/at
autofs		Also called the automount daemon, it is used to automatically mount filesystems on demand. It is especially worthwhile for working with removeable media such as floppies or CD ROM disks.
bootparamd		Allows remote computers to boot from a Linux box using the BOOTP network protocol. This allows the remote computer to get its IP address if the server knows the hardware address of the remote machine. The DHCP protocol is an upgrade to this protocol since it is more automated.
crond		A daeman that executes scheduled commands according to the /etc/crontab file. It can be used to clean up temporary files in /tmp and /var/tmp and other places.
dhcpd		Provides DHCP services to "lease" out IP addresses to remote machines.
firewall
gated		Provides routing services for BGP and other protocols. Alternative to routed. Supports IGP (Interior gateway protocol) and EGP (Exterior Gateway Protocol).
gpm		Provides mouse support to Linux.
httpd		The Apache hypertext transfer protocol Web server.
identd		Server implementing the TCP/IP proposed standard IDENT user identification protocol in RFC 1413. It returns user information to a remote host that a user is requesting a service from. Also called auth.
inet		The internet super daemon (inetd) that provides all the services specified in /etc/inetd.conf.
innd		The Usenet news server
isdn		Provides ISDN (networking interface) services. See the isdnctrl man page for more information. The isdnctrl program is used to set up isdn interfaces. Pertinent files are /etc/sysconfig/activeisdn, /dev/isnnctrl, /etc/sysconfig/provider, and /var/log/isdn.log.
keytable		Loads the appropriate keyboard map from /etc/sysconfig/keyboard. This does not set up a daemon program to reside in the background, but just loads the keyboard keytable and the system font.
kudzu		Detects and configures new or changed hardware on a system. This program is run once when the system boots and does not run as a daemon in the background.
ldap		Lightweight directory access protocol package which provides client/server based directory database services which runs on UNIX platforms over TCP/IP. RFC is 1777.
linuxconf		According to Redhat it is a post startup hook for linuxconf. It does not run as a daemon.
lpd		Provides printing services to Linux. It is a print spooler daemon.
mars-nwe		Loads the MARS Netware compatible file and print server daemon called nwserv. Allows a Linux machine to be used as a file and printserver for netware based clients using IPX/SPX.
mcserv		Allows users on remote machines to use the midcommander file manager to work with files. It uses the PAM library for authentication.
named		Provides DNS services. It is a name server used to translate local IP addresses to names and vice-versa.
netfs		Mounts and unmounts Network Fils System (NFS), Windows (SMB), and Netware (NCP) file systems. The mount command is used to perform this operation and no daemon is run in the background.
network		Brings up all the network interfaces under the directory /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts. Also controls IP_forwarding and IP_defrag.
nfs		Provides Network File System server services
nfslock		NFS file locking service. Starts the daemons rpc.locked and rpc.statd. The rpc.statd daemon implements the Network Status Monitor (NSM) RPC protocol which is a reboot notification service used to implement file lock recovery when an NFS server crashes and reboots.
nscd		The name switch cache daemon. which handles password and group lookups for running programs and caches the information for the next query. Normally this daemon is used to support NIS.
pcmcia		Provides access to PCMCIA (PC Cards) services configured in the /etc/exports file.
portmap		Provides Remote Procedure Call (RPC) support for other protocols like NFS.
postgresql		Runs the postgres database and provides SQL services. It runs the daemon postmaster.
pulse		Heartbeat daemon for monitoring the health of lvs (Redhat clustering services) cluster nodes. This tool is used for clustering machines.
pxe		A preboot execution environment (PXE) server. Allows network boot of other PXE machines. PXE is a standard developed by Intel for a means of booting various operating systems on remote machines.
random		Saves and restores a random value used to generate better random numbers for security. No daemon program is invoked for this operation.
routed		Provides for automatic router table updates using the RIP dynamic routing information protocol.
rstatd		The rstat protocol allows users on a network to get performance information for any machine on the network. Runs the rpc.rstatd daemon which provides performance statistics retrieved from the kernel usually by using the "rup" command.
rusersd		Provides services that allow users to find one another over the network.
rwalld		Provides users with an ability to use the rwall command to write messages on remote terminals.
rwhod		The rwho protocol lets remote users get a list of all users logged onto a machine by running the rwho daemon.
sendmail		The sendmail mail transport agent daemon used to move e-mail from one machine to another.
smb		Provides SMB (Samba) client/server services which include file and print services. It allows Linux computers to exchange file and printer services with Microsoft Windows based systems.
snmpd		Provides Simple Network Management Protocol support to Linux.
squid		Runs the squid proxy web server
syslog		System logging daemon which records system events to log files usually in the directory "/var/log". The actual name of the daemon is klogd.
xfs		X font file server
xntpd		Starts the Network Time Protocol NTPv3 daemon. NTP provides a means to synchronize time and coordinate time distribution in a large, diverse internet operating at all speeds. RFC 1305 describes this protocol.
ypbind		Binds YP/NIS clients to a yellow pages server. NIS (Network Information Service) is a name service created by Sun.
yppasswdd		Allows users to change their passwords on systems running YP/NIS
ypserv		This daemon provides the YP/NIS (Network Information System) server functions