This service manages RPCSEC GSS contexts for the NFSv4 client, which provides support on the client side for RPCSEC_GSS protocol. It will start rpc.gssd daemon to communicate with server-side rpcsec_gss daemon rpc.svcgssd. If using NFSv4, it is needed.
The rpcsec_gss protocol gives a means of using the gss-api generic security api to provide security for protocols using rpc (in particular, nfs). Before exchanging any rpc requests using rpcsec_gss, the rpc client must first establish a security context. The Linux kernel’s implementation of rpcsec_gss depends on the userspace daemon rpc.gssd to establish security contexts. The rpc.gssd daemon uses files in the rpc_pipefs filesystem to communicate with the kernel.
Rpc.gssd is the client-side implementation of RPCSEC_GSS protocol. Any applications which use RPCSEC_GSS security mechanism should call gss-api application interface to establish a secure connection with the servers.
The PRM package containing this service:
# yum install nfs-utils
Service Control
This service is handled by the “service” or “systemctl” command. Its usage is as follows:
# service rpcgssd # CentOS/RHEL 6
Usage: {start|stop|restart|condstart|condrestart|status}
Start the service as follows:
# service rpcgssd start # CentOS/RHEL 6 # systemctl start rpcgssd # CentOS/RHEL 7
Stop the service as follows:
# service rpcgssd stop # CentOS/RHEL 6 # systemctl stop rpcgssd # CentOS/RHEL 7
Restart the service like this:
# service rpcgssd restart # CentOS/RHEL 6 # systemctl restart rpcgssd # CentOS/RHEL 7
If the service is started, then restart it; otherwise do nothing.
# service rpcgssd condrestart
As start command does, condstart command also starts rpcgssd daemon.
# service rpcgssd condstart
Check if the service is started or stopped:
# service rpcgssd status # CentOS/RHEL 6 # systemctl status rpcgssd # CentOS/RHEL 7
Query runlevel information for the service:
# chkconfig --list rpcgssd # CentOS/RHEL 6 rpcgssd 0:off 1:off 2:off 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off # systemctl is-enabled rpcgssd # CentOS/RHEL 7 static
Configuration
There are no configuration files for this service. As mentioned above, the service will communicate with the kernel via rpc_pipefs filesystem. The default value is “/var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs“. You also can tell rpc.gssd where to look for the rpc_pipefs filesystem using -k option to rpc.gssd.