NAME

       rfinger - SOCKS client version of finger
       rftp - SOCKS client version of ftp
       rtelnet - SOCKS client version of telnet
       rwhois - SOCKS client version of whois

SYNOPSIS

       See the man pages on finger(1), ftp(1), telnet(1), whois(1).

DESCRIPTION

       These  programs  provide  the  well-known  functionalities  to  hosts within a firewall. Normally, when a
       firewall is constructed, IP-accessibility across the firewall is cut off to reduce security risk to hosts
       within the firewall. As a result, inside hosts can no longer use many of the well-known tools directly to
       access the resources outside the firewall.

       These  programs  restore  the  convenience  of  the  well-known  tools  while  maintaining  the  security
       requirement. Though the programs differ very much from their counterparts in the use of the communication
       scheme,  they  should  behave  almost indistinguishable to the users. Note though that rftp does echo the
       password as you type it in if you are using anonymous as  log-in  name.  Unlike  those  of  the  previous
       versions,  these  are  "versatile" clients, meaning that they can be used for connections to inside hosts
       directly and to outside hosts via SOCKS proxy servers. So they can  be  used  as  replacements  of  their
       traditional counterparts.

       When  any  of  these  programs  starts,  if the environment variable SOCKS_BANNER is defined, the program
       prints to stderr its version number and the name or IP address of its default  SOCKS  proxy  server.   It
       then  consults the configuration file to determine whether a request should be allowed or denied based on
       the requesting user, the destination host,  and  the  requested  service.  For  allowable  requests,  the
       configuration  file  also  dictates  whether  direct  or  proxy  connection  should  be used to the given
       destination, and optionally the actual SOCKS servers to use for the proxy connection.  The program lookps
       first for the frozen configuration file /etc/socks.fc first. If that's not found, it then looks  for  the
       file  /etc/socks.conf.   If both files are absent, these programs will only try direct connections to the
       destination hosts, making them behaving like their regular counterparts.

       You can use environment variable SOCKS_NS to set the nameserver for domainname resolutions. Be  sure  you
       use  the IP address of the nameserver you want to use, not its domainname. If SOCKS_NS doesn't exist, the
       IP address defined by the symbol SOCKS_DEFAULT_NS at compile time is used if the programs  were  compiled
       with that symbol defined. Otherwise the nameservers specified in /etc/resolv.conf are used.

       All the client programs uses syslog with facility daemon and level notice to log their activities.  These
       log   lines   usually  appear  in  file  /var/adm/messages  though  that  can  be  changed  by  modifying
       /etc/syslog.conf. (See syslogd(8) and syslog.conf(5).)  Typical lines look like

        Apr 11 10:02:23 eon rfinger[631]: connect() from don(don) to abc.com (finger) using sockd at socksserv
        May 10 08:39:07 eon rftp[603]: connect() directly from blue(blue) to xyz.edu (ftp)
        May 10 08:39:09 eon rftp[603]: bind() directly from blue(blue) for xyz.edu (ftp)
        May 18 13:31:19 eon rtelnet[830]: connect() from root(jon) to xyz.edu (telnet) using sockd at sockd2
        May 18 14:51:19 eon rtelnet[921]: refused -- connect() from jon(jon) to xyz.edu (telnet)

       Of the two user-ids appearing in each log line, the first is the effective user-id when  the  program  is
       invoked, the second (that within the parentheses) is the one used at login. Access control applies to the
       effective user-ids.

SEE ALSO

       finger(1),  ftp(1), sockd(8), sockd.conf(5), socks.conf(5), telnet(1), whois(1)

ENVIRONMENT

       SOCKS_SERVER,  if  defined,  specifies  the  name  or  IP  address of the SOCKS proxy server host to use,
       overriding the default server compiled into the programs.

       SOCKS_NS, if defined, specify the IP address of the domain  nameserver  that  should  be  used  for  name
       resolution, overriding both the definition of symbol SOCKS_DEFAULT_NS and the file /etc/resolv.conf.

       ORIG_FINGER,  if  defined,  specified  the  (altered) full pathname of the original finger program, which
       should have been renamed before installing the rfinger as the regular finger. The rfinger program invokes
       the original finger program to lookup information on local users.  Normally this name should be  compiled
       directly  into rfinger, avoiding the need for this environment variable. Use ORIG_FINGER only if you want
       to override what is compiled into rfinger.

AUTHOR

       David Koblas, koblas@netcom.com

       Ying-Da Lee, ylee@syl.dl.nec.com

                                                   May 6, 1996                                  SOCKS_CLIENTS(1)