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rhosts(4)


NAME

  rhosts, .rhosts, shosts, .shosts - Specifies remote users who can use a
  local user account


SYNOPSIS

  $HOME/.rhosts

  $HOME/.shosts


DESCRIPTION

  The .rhosts file contains a list of remote users who are not required to
  supply a login password when they use the local user account and execute
  the rcp, rlogin, and rsh commands.

  The .shosts file contains a list of remote users who are not required to
  supply a login password when they use the local user account and execute
  the scp2, sftp2, and ssh2 Secure Shell commands or the rcp, rlogin, and rsh
  commands when they are configured to use a Secure Shell connection. See
  Security Administration for more information about configuring these
  commands to use a Secure Shell connection.

  The .rhosts file is read by the rlogind, rshd, and Secure Shell sshd
  daemons.  The .shosts file is read only the the Secure Shell sshd daemon.
  If both files exist, the Secure Shell daemon reads the .rhosts file first,
  then the .shosts file.  If either of these files allows access for a
  particular connection, a Secure Shell connection is used, even if the other
  file forbids it.

  The .rhosts file and .shosts file are a hidden files in a user's home
  directory.  These files must be owned by the user or the root user and must
  not be writable by group or world, otherwise, it is not used.	 Although it
  is not required, it is recommended to set the permissions of these files to
  600, so the file is not readable by group or world.

  Each entry in the .rhosts file and .shosts file is of the following form:

       host [user]

  where:

  host
      The fully qualified domain name of the remote host.

  user
      The login name of the remote user. This field is optional. If a user
      name is not specified, any user on the specified remote host is exempt
      from providing a password, and is assumed to have the same username on
      both the local and remote hosts.

  Optionally, in the .rhosts and .shosts file you can specify a NIS netgroup
  name for the host name, user name, or both.

  Entries in the .rhosts and .shosts file are either positive or negative.
  Positive entries allow access; negative entries deny access. The following
  entries are positive:

       hostname
       username
       +@netgroup

  The following entries are negative:

       -hostname
       -username
       -@netgroup

  In addition, in the .rhosts file you can use the plus sign (+) in place of
  the host name or user name. In place of the host name, it means any remote
  host. In place of the user name, it means any user.  The use of the plus
  sign in this way is not supported in the .shosts file or in the .rhosts
  file if you configured the rcp, rlogin, and rsh commands to use a Secure
  Shell connection. See Security Administration for more information about
  configuring these commands to use a Secure Shell connection.


EXAMPLES

  The following entries in the /u/chen/.rhosts file on host zeus allow users
  moshe and pierre at remote host venus.ne.corp.com and user robert at the
  hosts specified in the NIS netgroup chicago to log in to user chen's home
  directory on host zeus:

       venus.ne.corp.com moshe
       venus.ne.corp.com pierre
       +@chicago robert

  The following entry in the /u/peter/.shosts file on host zeus allow the
  user evan at remote host saturn.ne.corp.com to log in to user peter's home
  directory on host zeus:

       saturn.ne.corp.com evan


FILES

  $HOME/.rhosts
      Specifies remote users who can use a local user account.

  $HOME/.shosts
      Specifies remote users who can use a local user account.


SEE ALSO

  Commands: rcp(1), rlogin(1), rsh(1), scp2(1), sftp2(1), ssh2(1)

  Functions: ruserok(3), rcmd(3)

  Files: hosts.equiv(4), netgroup(4)

  Guides: Security Administration

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