Chapter 2. Viewing, starting and stopping the Identity Management services

There are many different services that can be installed and run on the IdM servers and clients.

IdM uses the Kerberos protocol to support single sign-on. With Kerberos, users only need to present the correct username and password once and can access IdM services without the system prompting for credentials again.

Kerberos is divided into two parts:

For information about how to authenticate using Kerberos in IdM, see Logging in to Identity Management from the command line and Logging in to IdM in the Web UI: Using a Kerberos ticket.

The IdM LDAP directory server instance stores all IdM information, such as information related to Kerberos, user accounts, host entries, services, policies, DNS, and others. The LDAP directory server instance is based on the same technology as Red Hat Directory Server. However, it is tuned to IdM-specific tasks.

The integrated certificate authority (CA) is based on the same technology as Red Hat Certificate System. pki is the command-line interface for accessing Certificate System services.

You can also install the server without the integrated CA if you create and provide all required certificates independently.

For more information, see Planning your CA services.

IdM uses DNS for dynamic service discovery. The IdM client installation utility can use information from DNS to automatically configure the client machine. After the client is enrolled in the IdM domain, it uses DNS to locate IdM servers and services within the domain. The BIND (Berkeley Internet Name Domain) implementation of the DNS (Domain Name System) protocols in Red Hat Enterprise Linux includes the named DNS server. named-pkcs11 is a version of the BIND DNS server built with native support for the PKCS#11 cryptographic standard.

For information, see Planning your DNS services and host names.

The Apache HTTP web server provides the IdM Web UI, and also manages communication between the Certificate Authority and other IdM services.

Samba implements the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol, also known as the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol, in Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Via the smb service, the SMB protocol enables you to access resources on a server, such as file shares and shared printers. If you have configured a Trust with an Active Directory (AD) environment, the`Winbind` service manages communication between IdM servers and AD servers.

One-time passwords (OTP) are passwords that are generated by an authentication token for only one session, as part of two-factor authentication. OTP authentication is implemented in Red Hat Enterprise Linux via the ipa-otpd service.

For more information, see Logging in to the Identity Management Web UI using one time passwords.

OpenDNSSEC is a DNS manager that automates the process of keeping track of DNS security extensions (DNSSEC) keys and the signing of zones. The ipa-dnskeysyncd service manages synchronization between the IdM Directory Server and OpenDNSSEC.

The System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) is the client-side application that manages user authentication and caching credentials. Caching enables the local system to continue normal authentication operations if the IdM server becomes unavailable or if the client goes offline.

For more information, see Understanding SSSD and its benefits.

The certmonger service monitors and renews the certificates on the client. It can request new certificates for the services on the system.

For more information, see Obtaining an IdM certificate for a service using certmonger.

To view the status of the IdM services that are configured on your IdM server, run the ipactl status command:

[root@server ~]# ipactl status
Directory Service: RUNNING
krb5kdc Service: RUNNING
kadmin Service: RUNNING
named Service: RUNNING
httpd Service: RUNNING
pki-tomcatd Service: RUNNING
smb Service: RUNNING
winbind Service: RUNNING
ipa-otpd Service: RUNNING
ipa-dnskeysyncd Service: RUNNING
ipa: INFO: The ipactl command was successful

The output of the ipactl status command on your server depends on your IdM configuration. For example, if an IdM deployment does not include a DNS server, the named service is not present in the list.

You can start or stop the entire server, or an individual service only.

To start, stop, or restart the entire IdM server, see:

To start, stop, or restart an individual IdM service, see:

To display the version of IdM software, see:

Use the ipa systemd service to stop, start, or restart the entire IdM server along with all the installed services. Using the systemctl utility to control the ipa systemd service ensures all services are stopped, started, or restarted in the appropriate order. The ipa systemd service also upgrades the RHEL IdM configuration before starting the IdM services, and it uses the proper SELinux contexts when administrating with IdM services. You do not need to have a valid Kerberos ticket to run the systemctl ipa commands.

# systemctl start ipa

To stop the entire IdM server:

# systemctl stop ipa

To restart the entire IdM server:

# systemctl restart ipa

To show the status of all the services that make up IdM, use the ipactl utility:

# ipactl status

Changing IdM configuration files manually is generally not recommended. However, certain situations require that an administrator performs a manual configuration of specific services. In such situations, use the systemctl utility to stop, start, or restart an individual IdM service.

For example, use systemctl after customizing the Directory Server behavior, without modifying the other IdM services:

# systemctl restart dirsrv@REALM-NAME.service

Also, when initially deploying an IdM trust with Active Directory, modify the /etc/sssd/sssd.conf file, adding:

To apply the changes you have made in the /etc/sssd/sssd.conf file:

# systemctl restart sssd.service

Running systemctl restart sssd.service is required because the System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) does not automatically re-read or re-apply its configuration.

Note that for changes that affect IdM identity ranges, a complete server reboot is recommended.

# systemctl start name.service

To stop a particular IdM service:

# systemctl stop name.service

To restart a particular IdM service:

# systemctl restart name.service

To view the status of a particular IdM service:

# systemctl status name.service

You can display the IdM version number with: