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User Commandskinit(1)


NAME

 kinit - obtain and cache Kerberos ticket-granting ticket

SYNOPSIS

 /usr/bin/kinit [-AfpRv] [-c cache_name] [ -k [-t keytab_file] ] [-l lifetime] [-r renewable_life] [-s start_time] [-S service_name] [principal]

DESCRIPTION

 

The kinit command is used to obtain and cache an initial ticket-granting ticket (credential) for principal. This ticket is used for authentication by the Kerberos system. Notice that only users with Kerberos principals can use the Kerberos system. For information about Kerberos principals, see SEAM(5).

When you use kinit without options, the utility prompts for your principal and Kerberos password, and tries to authenticate your login with the local Kerberos server. The principal can be specified on the command line if desired.

If Kerberos authenticates the login attempt, kinit retrieves your initial ticket-granting ticket and puts it in the ticket cache. By default your ticket will be stored in the file /tmp/krb5cc_uid, where uid specifies your user identification number. Tickets expire after a specified lifetime, after which kinit must be run again. Any existing contents of the cache are destroyed by kinit.

Values specified in the command line override the values specified in the Kerberos configuration file for lifetime and renewable_life.

The kdestroy(1) command may be used to destroy any active tickets before you end your login session.

OPTIONS

 

The following options are supported:

-A
Requests address-less tickets.
-c cache_name
Uses cache_name as the credentials (ticket) cache name and location. If this option is not used, the default cache name and location are used.
-f
Requests forwardable tickets.
-k [-t keytab_file]
Requests a host ticket, obtained from a key in the local host's keytab file. The name and location of the keytab file may be specified with the -t keytab_file option; otherwise the default name and location will be used.
-l lifetime
Requests a ticket with the lifetime lifetime. If the -l option is not specified, the default ticket lifetime (configured by each site) is used. Specifying a ticket lifetime longer than the maximum ticket lifetime (configured by each site) results in a ticket with the maximum lifetime. See the Time Formats section for the valid time duration formats that you can specify for lifetime. See kdc.conf(4) and kadmin(1M) (for getprinc command to verify the lifetime values for the server principal).

The lifetime of the tickets returned will be the minimum of the following:

  • Value specified in the command line.
  • Value specified in the KDC configuration file.
  • Value specified in the Kerberos data base for the server principal. In the case of kinit, it is krbtgt/realm name.
  • Value specified in the Kerberos database for the user principal.
-p
Requests proxiable tickets.
-r renewable_life
Requests renewable tickets, with a total lifetime of renewable_life. See the Time Formats section for the valid time duration formats that you can specify for renewable_life. See kdc.conf(4) and kadmin(1M) (for getprinc command to verify the lifetime values for the server principal).

The renewable lifetime of the tickets returned will be the minimum of the following:

  • Value specified in the command line.
  • Value specified in the KDC configuration file.
  • Value specified in the Kerberos data base for the server principal. In the case of kinit, it is krbtgt/realm name.
  • Value specified in the Kerberos database for the user principal.
-R
Requests renewal of the ticket-granting ticket. Notice that an expired ticket cannot be renewed, even if the ticket is still within its renewable life.
-s start_time
Requests a postdated ticket, valid starting at start_time. Postdated tickets are issued with the invalid flag set, and need to be fed back to the KDC before use. See the Time Formats section for either the valid absolute time or time duration formats that you can specify for start_time. kinit attempts to match an absolute time first before trying to match a time duration.
-S service_name
Specifies an alternate service name to use when getting initial tickets.
-v
Requests that the ticket granting ticket in the cache (with the invalid flag set) be passed to the KDC for validation. If the ticket is within its requested time range, the cache is replaced with the validated ticket.

Time Formats

 

The following absolute time formats can be used for the -s start_time option. The examples are based on the date and time of July 2, 1999, 1:35:30 p.m.

Absolute Time FormatExample
yymmddhhmm[ss]990702133530
hhmm[ss]133530
yy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss99:07:02:13:35:30
hh:mm[:ss]13:35:30
ldate:ltime07-07-99:13:35:30
dd-month-yyyy:hh:mm[:ss]02-july-1999:13:35:30
VariableDescription
ddday
hhhour (24-hour clock)
mmminutes
ssseconds
yyyear within century (0-68 is 2000 to 2068; 69-99 is 1969 to 1999)
yyyyyear including century
monthlocale's full or abbreviated month name
ldatelocale's appropriate date representation
ltimelocale's appropriate time representation

The following time duration formats can be used for the -l lifetime, -r renewable_life, and -s start_time options. The examples are based on the time duration of 14 days, 7 hours, 5 minutes, and 30 seconds.

Time Duration FormatExample
#d14d
#h7h
#m5m
#s30s
#d#h#m#s14d7h5m30s
#h#m[#s]7h5m30s
days-hh:mm:ss14-07:05:30
hours:mm[:ss]7:05:30
DelimiterDescription
dnumber of days
hnumber of hours
mnumber of minutes
snumber of seconds
VariableDescription
#number
daysnumber of days
hoursnumber of hours
hhhour (24-hour clock)
mmminutes
ssseconds

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

 

kinit uses the following environment variable:

KRB5CCNAME
Location of the credentials (ticket) cache.

FILES

 
/tmp/krb5cc_uid
Default credentials cache (uid is the decimal UID of the user).
/etc/krb5/krb5.keytab
Default location for the local host's keytab file.
/etc/krb5/krb5.conf
Default location for the local host's configuration file. See krb5.conf(4).

ATTRIBUTES

 

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPEATTRIBUTE VALUE
AvailabilitySUNWkrbu
Interface StabilityEvolving

SEE ALSO

 

kdestroy(1), klist(1), kadmin(1M), kdc.conf(4), krb5.conf(4), attributes(5), SEAM(5)

AUTHORS

 

Steve Miller, MIT Project Athena/Digital Equipment Corporation; Clifford Neuman, MIT Project Athena


SunOS 5.9Go To TopLast Changed 14 Dec 2001

 
      
      
Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved. Use is subject to license terms.