# Identd Setup

The Ident service as specified by RFC 1413 is mostly used by various IRC networks and the occasional old FTP server to ask a remote server which user is making a connection. This method is quite untrustworthy, as the remote host can simply choose to lie.

So you have two choices:

1. Tell the truth (see pidentd below)
2. Tell a little white lie (see nullident below)

## pIdentd

Like most people, I prefer to run identd from from inetd instead of as a stand-alone service. For this to work you will need to install two packages: xinetd and pidentd. I tried this with oidentd but it does not seem to work with the latest xinetd.

1. Install xinetd and pidentd.

2. Next, you will need to paste the following into a new file and save it as `/etc/xinetd.d/auth`

    service auth
    {
          flags = REUSE
          socket_type = stream
          wait = no
          user = nobody
          server = /usr/bin/identd
          server_args = -m -N
          logonfailure += USERID
          disable = no
    }

3. After you have saved the new file, start xinetd systemd service.

If all went well, you should have the auth service running on port 113. A good way of checking this is by installing nmap (if you do not have it already) and typing

    $ nmap localhost

## nullIdent

This Ident server is capable of only returning the same name for any query. With a quick change to a single line of code, it can be customized to return any name you can think. One use for such a simple service would be for IRC client connections to ensure a degree of privacy (remote IRC server and users do not know your username) as well as allowing a small degree of 'vanity plating' for use in IRC channels.

The original code suffered link rot, but may now be found on github, at this address https://github.com/dxtr/nullidentd.

1. clone the source to a directory of your choice using git.

    git clone https://github.com/dxtr/nullidentd

2. Edit line 86 of nullidentd.c to your liking. use any text editor of your choice

example:

    nano nullidentd.c

3. Compile the binary.

    make

4. Install Binary You can move it to any location of your choice of course, but the FileSystem Hierarchy states the nullidentd binary should live in `/usr/local/sbin`

    # mv nullidentd /usr/local/sbin

### systemd activation

Below are two files you need to create under `/etc/systemd/system/`

1. identd@.service

    [Unit]
    Description=per connection null identd

    [Service]
    User=nobody
    ExecStart=/usr/local/sbin/nullidentd
    StandardInput=socket
    StandardOutput=socket

2. ident.socket

    [Unit]
    Description=socket for ident

    [Socket]
    ListenStream=113
    Accept=yes

    [Install]
    WantedBy=sockets.target

3. inform SystemD of the new files

    # systemctl daemon-reload

4. Test that the socket is listening sucessfully

    $ systemctl status ident.socket

this should yield output similar to the below

    ident.socket - socket for ident
       Loaded: loaded (/etc/systemd/system/ident.socket; enabled)
       Active: active (listening) since Fri 2014-01-24 02:30:53 WST; 30 seconds ago
       Listen: [::]:113 (Stream)
     Accepted: 0; Connected: 0

    Jan 24 02:30:53 HOSTNAME systemd[1]: Listening on socket for ident.

Category:

- Networking