Ubuntu Manpage: tac_plus - tacacs plus daemon

NAME

       tac_plus - tacacs plus daemon

SYNOPSIS

       tac_plus -C <configfile> [-GghiLPSstv] [-B <bind_address>] [-d <level>] [-l <logfile>] [-p
       <tcp_port>] [-u <wtmpfile>] [-w <wholog>]

DESCRIPTION

       By default, tac_plus listens on tcp port 49 and provides network devices (normally routers
       and access servers) with authentication, authorization and accounting services.

       A configuration file controls the details of authentication, authorization and accounting.

COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS

-C <configfile>

Specify the configuration file name. The -C option is required.

-B <bind address>

Specify the address on which the daemon should bind(2). Successive instances of -B
override previous instances. By default, the daemon listens on all addresses.
Note: this changes the name of the pid file created by the daemon.

-G Remain in the foreground, but not single-threaded nor logging to the tty.

-d <level>
Switch on debugging. By default the output will appear in the log file and
syslog(3).

NOTE: The -g flag will cause these messages to also appear on stdout. The -t flag
will cause these messages to also be written to /dev/console.

The value of level is as described below. These values represent bits that can be
logically OR'd together. The daemon logically ORs successive occurrences of the -d
option.

Value Meaning
2 configuration parsing debugging
4 fork(1) debugging
8 authorization debugging
16 authentication debugging
32 password file processing debugging
64 accounting debugging
128 config file parsing & lookup
256 packet transmission/reception
512 encryption/decryption
1024 MD5 hash algorithm debugging
2048 very low level encryption/decryption
32768 max session debugging
65536 lock debugging

-g Single threaded mode. The daemon will only accept and service a single connection
at a time without forking and without closing file descriptors. All log messages
appear on standard output.

This is intended only for debugging and not for normal service.

This option does not work with single-connection sessions.

-h Display help message.

-i tac_plus will be run from inetd(8). In inetd mode, the configuration file is
parsed every time tac_plus starts.

If the configuration is large or the frequency of connections is high, this
negatively will affect the responsiveness of the daemon.

If the config file is small, connections are infrequent, and authentication is
being done via passwd(5) files or SKEY (which are not cached), running in inetd
mode should be tolerable, but still is not recommended.

This option does not work with single-connection sessions.

-l <logfile>
Specify an alternate log file location. This file is only used when the -d option
is used. The logs are still posted to syslog.

-L Lookup DNS PTR (Domain Name System PoinTeR) record of client addresses. The
resulting FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name), if it resolves, will be used in log
messages, libwrap (tcp_wrappers) checks, and for matching host clauses of the
configuration file. Also see tac_plus.conf(5).

-P Parse the configuration file, echo it to standard output while parsing, and then
exit. tac_plus will exit non-zero when a parser error occurs.

Useful for debugging configuration file syntax.

-p <port>
Listen on the specified port number instead of the default port 49 for incoming tcp
connections. Note: this changes the name of the pid file created by the daemon.

-S Enables or allows client single-connection mode, where-by the client will create
one connection and interleave queries.

Note: this is broken in IOS and IOS-XE.

Note: this is currently only partially supported in the daemon.

-s Causes the daemon to always reject authentication requests which contain a minor
version number of zero (SENDPASS). This enhances security in the event that
someone discovers your encryption key. SENDPASS requests permit requesters to
obtain CHAP, PAP and ARAP passwords from the daemon, iff the encryption key is
known.

Note: IOS versions preceding 11.2 will fail.

-t Log all informational, debugging or error messages to /dev/console in addition to
logging to syslogd. Useful for debugging.

-u <wtmpfile>
Write wtmp entries to the specified wtmp file.

-v Display version information and exit.

-w <wholog>
Specify the location of the max session file.

STARTING

       tac_plus is normally invoked by root, as follows:

           # tac_plus -C <configfile>

       where  <configfile>  is  a  full path to the configuration file.  Tac_plus will background
       itself and start listening on port 49 for incoming tcp connections.

       Tac_plus must be invoked as root to obtain privileged network socket 49 and  to  read  the
       protected   configuration  file,  which  may  contain  confidential  information  such  as
       encryption keys and cleartext passwords.

       After the port is acquired and the config file is read,  root  privileges  are  no  longer
       required.   You  can  arrange  that  tac_plus will change its user and group IDs to a more
       innocuous user and group via the configuration file.

       NOTE: The new user and group still needs permission to read any passwd(5) (and  shadow(5))
       files and S/KEY database if these are being used.

TCP WRAPPERS

       If  tac_plus  was  compiled  with libwrap (aka. tcp_wrappers) support, upon connection the
       daemon will consult with tcp_wrappers on whether the client  has  permission  to  connect.
       The  daemon  name  used  in  a  daemon  list of the access control file is the name of the
       executable, normally "tac_plus".  See hosts_access(5).

PERMISSIONS

       The configuration file should be unreadable and unwriteable by anyone except root,  as  it
       contains passwords and keys.

SIGNALS

       If the daemon is receives a SIGHUP or SIGUSR1, it will reinitialize itself and re-read its
       configuration file.

       Note: if an error is encountered in the configuration file or the file can not  be  opened
       for  reading, such as due to insufficient permissions resulting from process ownership and
       file permissions, the daemon will exit.

       Likewise, if the daemon is configured to send accounting records to a file and  that  file
       can  not  be  opened  for  writing, such as due to insufficient permissions resulting from
       process ownership and file permissions, the daemon will exit.

LOG MESSAGES

       tac_plus logs error and informational messages to syslog facility LOG_DAEMON.

FILES

       /var/log/tac_plus.acct        Default accounting file.

       /var/log/tac_plus.log         Default log file used when the -d option is used.

       /var/run/tac_plus.pid         Pid file.  If the -B  option  is  used,  ".bind_address"  is
                                     appended.   If  the  -p  option  is  used, ".port_number" is
                                     appended.

HISTORY

       There are at least 3 versions of the authentication protocol that people commonly refer to
       as "TACACS".

       The first is ordinary tacacs, which was the first one offered on Cisco boxes and has  been
       in  use for many years.  The second is an extension to the first, commonly called Extended
       Tacacs or XTACACS, introduced in 1990.

       The third one is TACACS+ (or T+ or tac_plus) which is what is documented here.  TACACS+ is
       NOT COMPATIBLE with any previous versions of tacacs.

AUTHOR

       The  tac_plus  (tacacs+)  developer's  kit  is  a product of Cisco Systems, written by Lol
       Grant.  Made available at no cost and with no warranty of any kind.  See the file  COPYING
       and source files that came with the distribution for specifics.

       Though  heavily  modified  from the original Cisco manual pages, much of the modifications
       are derived from the tacacs IETF draft and the Cisco user guide.

                                           28 July 2009                               tac_plus(8)