NAME
tac_plus - tacacs plus daemon
SYNOPSIS
tac_plus -C <configfile> [-GghiLPSstv] [-B <bind_address>] [-d <level>]
[-l <logfile>] [-p <tcp_port>] [-u <wtmpfile>] [-w <wholog>]
DESCRIPTION
By default, tac_plus listens on tcp port 49 and provides network
devices (normally routers and access servers) with authentication,
authorization and accounting services.
A configuration file controls the details of authentication,
authorization and accounting.
COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
-C <configfile>
Specify the configuration file name. The -C option is required.
-B <bind address>
Specify the address on which the daemon should bind(2).
Successive instances of -B override previous instances. By
default, the daemon listens on all addresses. Note: this
changes the name of the pid file created by the daemon.
-G Remain in the foreground, but not single-threaded nor logging to
the tty.
-d <level>
Switch on debugging. By default the output will appear in the
log file and syslog(3).
NOTE: The -g flag will cause these messages to also appear on
stdout. The -t flag will cause these messages to also be
written to /dev/console.
The value of level is as described below. These values
represent bits that can be logically OR’d together. The daemon
logically ORs successive occurrences of the -d option.
Value Meaning
8 authorization debugging
16 authentication debugging
32 password file processing debugging
64 accounting debugging
128 config file parsing & lookup
256 packet transmission/reception
512 encryption/decryption
1024 MD5 hash algorithm debugging
2048 very low level encryption/decryption
-g Single threaded mode. The daemon will only accept and service a
single connection at a time without forking and without closing
file descriptors. All log messages appear on standard output.
This is intended only for debugging and not for normal service.
This option does not work with single-connection sessions.
-h Display help message.
-i tac_plus will be run from inetd(8). In inetd mode, the
configuration file is parsed every time tac_plus starts.
If the configuration is large or the frequency of connections is
high, this negatively will affect the responsiveness of the
daemon.
If the config file is small, connections are infrequent, and
authentication is being done via passwd(5) files or SKEY (which
are not cached), running in inetd mode should be tolerable, but
still is not recommended.
This option does not work with single-connection sessions.
-l <logfile>
Specify an alternate log file location. This file is only used
when the -d option is used. The logs are still posted to
syslog.
-L Lookup DNS PTR (Domain Name System PoinTeR) record of client
addresses. The resulting FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name), if
it resolves, will be used in log messages, libwrap
(tcp_wrappers) checks, and for matching host clauses of the
configuration file. Also see tac_plus.conf(5).
-P Parse the configuration file, echo it to standard output while
parsing, and then exit. tac_plus will exit non-zero when a
parser error occurs.
Useful for debugging configuration file syntax.
-p <port>
Listen on the specified port number instead of the default port
49 for incoming tcp connections. Note: this changes the name of
the pid file created by the daemon.
-S Enables or allows client single-connection mode, where-by the
client will create one connection and interleave queries.
Note: this is broken in IOS and IOS-XE.
Note: this is currently only partially supported in the daemon.
-s Causes the daemon to always reject authentication requests which
contain a minor version number of zero (SENDPASS). This
enhances security in the event that someone discovers your
encryption key. SENDPASS requests permit requesters to obtain
CHAP, PAP and ARAP passwords from the daemon, iff the encryption
key is known.
Note: IOS versions preceding 11.2 will fail.
-t Log all informational, debugging or error messages to
/dev/console in addition to logging to syslogd. Useful for
debugging.
-u <wtmpfile>
Write wtmp entries to the specified wtmp file.
-v Display version information and exit.
-w <wholog>
Specify the location of the max session file.
STARTING
tac_plus is normally invoked by root, as follows:
# tac_plus -C <configfile>
where <configfile> is a full path to the configuration file. Tac_plus
will background itself and start listening on port 49 for incoming tcp
connections.
Tac_plus must be invoked as root to obtain privileged network socket 49
and to read the protected configuration file, which may contain
confidential information such as encryption keys and cleartext
passwords.
After the port is acquired and the config file is read, root privileges
are no longer required. You can arrange that tac_plus will change its
user and group IDs to a more innocuous user and group via the
configuration file.
NOTE: The new user and group still needs permission to read any
passwd(5) (and shadow(5)) files and S/KEY database if these are being
used.
TCP WRAPPERS
If tac_plus was compiled with libwrap (aka. tcp_wrappers) support, upon
connection the daemon will consult with tcp_wrappers on whether the
client has permission to connect. The daemon name used in a daemon
list of the access control file is the name of the executable, normally
"tac_plus". See hosts_access(5).
PERMISSIONS
The configuration file should be unreadable and unwriteable by anyone
except root, as it contains passwords and keys.
SIGNALS
If the daemon is receives a SIGHUP or SIGUSR1, it will reinitialize
itself and re-read its configuration file.
Note: if an error is encountered in the configuration file, the daemon
will die.
LOG MESSAGES
tac_plus logs error and informational messages to syslog facility
LOG_DAEMON.
FILES
/var/log/tac_plus.acct Default accounting file.
/var/log/tac_plus.log Default log file used when the -d option
is used.
/var/run/tac_plus.pid Pid file. If the -B option is used,
".bind_address" is appended. If the -p
option is used, ".port_number" is
appended.
SEE ALSO
tac_plus.conf(5), tac_pwd(8)
Also see the tac_plus User Guide (user_guide) that came with the
distribution. The user guide does not cover all the modifications to
the original Cisco version.
HISTORY
There are at least 3 versions of the authentication protocol that
people commonly refer to as "TACACS".
The first is ordinary tacacs, which was the first one offered on Cisco
boxes and has been in use for many years. The second is an extension
to the first, commonly called Extended Tacacs or XTACACS, introduced in
1990.
The third one is TACACS+ (or T+ or tac_plus) which is what is
documented here. TACACS+ is NOT COMPATIBLE with any previous versions
of tacacs.
AUTHOR
The tac_plus (tacacs+) developer’s kit is a product of Cisco Systems,
written by Lol Grant. Made available at no cost and with no warranty
of any kind. See the file COPYING and source files that came with the
distribution for specifics.
Though heavily modified from the original Cisco manual pages, much of
the modifications are derived from the tacacs IETF draft and the Cisco
user guide.
27 July 2009 tac_plus(8)