PasswordService(8) System Manager's Manual PasswordService(8)

PasswordService — Mac OS X Server Password Server daemon

PasswordService [-help | -ver]


PasswordService [-n]

In the first synopsis form, PasswordService prints a usage summary or version information and quits. In the second form, PasswordService acts as a password server.

PasswordService must be run as root; it will exit otherwise. If there is another instance of PasswordService running, it will exit.

The PasswordService daemon acts as the gatekeeper for user passwords and provides an authentication resource for all services running on the system. The standard way to communicate with PasswordService is to use the DirectoryService API. Services authenticate via the dsDoDirNodeAuth() function call. If the user being authenticated has an AuthenticationAuthority attribute that begins with ";ApplePasswordServer;" the request is routed to PasswordService for authentication. Normally, the users in an Open Directory LDAP server are managed through PasswordService. The DirectoryService buffer formats for each authentication mechanism are documented in the DirServicesConst.h header file. Some of the common methods supported are: APOP, CRAM-MD5, DIGEST-MD5, MS-CHAPv2, NTLMv2 and NTLMv1.

Some authentication methods require recoverable passwords. If APOP or WEBDAV-DIGEST are enabled, the password database must contain recoverable passwords.

The PasswordService daemon enforces password policies, such as the minimum number of characters allowed or when a password change is required. See pwpolicy(8) for more information about password policies.

PasswordService writes three log files; the server log contains all significant activity; the replication log contains information about synchronization with other password servers; the error log contains major error conditions.

The following options are available:

Do not daemonize.

In typical usage, PasswordService is launched during the boot process by launchd. To start and stop PasswordService manually, use launchctl(8) commands. This command updates the configuration files and effect the startup state.

/usr/sbin/PasswordService - the password service daemon
/Library/Logs/PasswordService/ApplePasswordServer.Error.log - the error log
/Library/Logs/PasswordService/ApplePasswordServer.Replication.log - the replication log
/Library/Logs/PasswordService/ApplePasswordServer.Server.log - the activity log

mkpassdb(8) launchctl(8) pwpolicy(8)

21 February 2002 Mac OS X Server