The Service Access Facility

What the Service Access Facility does

The Service Access Facility (SAF) provides a mechanism for uniform access to port monitor services. Each physical port on a computer running UnixWare 7 has a monitor associated with it that you can use to make the port active and otherwise manage its use. The monitor for a particular port controls use of the port with which it is associated: it grants (or denies) access, keeps track of usage, and provides information about availability to administrative programs that need to use the port.

The following port monitors are provided:

ttymon: runs ports used when local users log in, see ttymon(1M)
listen: runs ports used by remote users (through a network) to access accounts and software on the local system, see listen(1M)
inetd: runs traditional Internet services such as ftpd, rshd, and telnetd, see inetd(1Mtcp)
isdnmon: controls ports (/dev/net/) that are connected to ISDN channels, see isdnmon(1M) and also Adding ISDN devices

NOTE: You are not restricted to using these port monitors. For instructions on writing a port monitor, see ``Writing a port monitor for the SAC''.

The SAF also provides a set of tools for installing, configuring, and querying port monitors through a utility called the Service Access Controller (SAC).

Administration of the ports on your system can be divided into two levels of responsibility (reflecting the two levels in the supporting directory structure). The top administrative level is concerned with general port monitor administration (through the sacadm(1M) command); the lower level is concerned with the administration of specific port monitors (through the pmadm(1M) command).