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This page last modified: Jun 27 2007
title:Daemons: Fedora, Linux list of daemons with descriptions
keywords:daemon,demon,service,services,disable,list,boot,start,stop,fedora,linux,init,xinetd,chkconfig,ntsysv
Description:Full list of all Fedora Core 3 daemons, with their recommended state and a description of each.

For a more up-to-date and comprehensive list of daemons, install
Webmin. Webmin also allows you to easily enable/disable and start/stop
daemons.

http://www.webmin.com/

The list below is old (perhaps from 2006) and may only apply to Fedora Core
4 and earlier distributions.

After the name of each daemon is my recommended state: on for started (enabled)
and off for stopped (disabled). My recommendation is based on the kinds of
services most people run (e.g. a graphical desktop machine in a
home/office setting, with broadband network). 

The minimal set of daemons for a graphical desktop machine browsing
the web and reading email is: xfs, cron, network, and syslog.

You'll probably also want cups, haldaemon, iptables, and messagebus.

If you are running a graphical desktop (KDE or Gnome) you must have
xfs running. Is it a good idea to have cron and syslog running as
well. You'll need network running to have your network active (unless
you are using dial up).

As far as I know, your computer will "run" without any of these
daemons. The computer won't have a graphical desktop or network, but
it will be running. By the same token, nearly all of these can be
enabled with no problem. 

I don't know of a GUI application to manage daemons. Use ntsysv or
chkconfig. You'll have to use a terminal window, and you must be
logged in as root.

chkconfig name <on|off|reset>

For example:
chkconfig acpid off

List available daemons:
chkconfig --list

             acpid - off Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
		     event daemon. Shutdown applications if the power fails.

           aep1000 - off AEP1000/AEP2000 coprocessor driver.

           anacron - off Cron-like, but doesn't assume that the
 	             machine is always on.

              apmd - off Advanced Power Management. Only on for your
		     UPS to shutdown your computer when the power fails.

               atd - off Run jobs queued for later execution by "at". 

            autofs - off Auto mount CDs and other file system-like
		     devices and media.

           bcm5820 - off Hardware cryptographic accelerator support for
		     the BCM5820 Cryptonet driver.

          cpuspeed - on for laptops, off for desktop computers.

             crond - on Runs regularly scheduled system tasks, e.g. a
                     task that runs once a day.

              cups - on Common Unix Printing System. Necesary if you
		     want to print.

cups-config-daemon - off(?) Works with HAL to dynamically manage printer
                     configuration. Might overwrite
                     /etc/cups/cupsd.conf. See:
                     http://www.cups.org/articles.php?L301

          cxoffice - off Probably runs automatically if you have
                     Crossover Office and run an installed Windows application.

         dc_client - off Distributed session cache client proxy.

         dc_server - off Distributed session cache server.

               gpm - off unless you want mouse cut/paste on the
		     non-graphical console.

         haldaemon - on Auto-recognizes various kinds of hardware and
		     mountable media.

             httpd - off The Apache web server. Only on if you need a
		     web server.

          iptables - on The firewall.

              irda - off Infrared wireless device daemon. For PDA, etc.

        irqbalance - on If you have a multiprocessor system. Off on
		     all single cpu machines.

              isdn - off Only used if you have an ISDN network connection.
		     kudzu - off Detects and configures new and/or changed
		     hardware on a system. Can be run manually if you need it.

              lisa - off Scans your network to provide information
                     about hosts on your network, perhaps including
                     Windows shares. Some versions have security
                     problems. Part of kdenetwork utilities.

        lm_sensors - off Monitor system sensors such as CPU and
		     motherboard temperature.

     mDNSResponder - off Publishes and browses available network
		     services via Zeronconf (aka "Rendezvous").

         mdmonitor - off Part of the mdadm package to administer
                     software RAID. See rpm -qi mdadm

             mdmpd - off Monitor MD multipath devices, e.g. disks with
		     more than one controller. Apparently only for
		     RAID arrays.

        messagebus - on Provides a communication bus for dbus. Programs
                     talk to other programs. Probably leave enabled.

     microcode_ctl - on for Intel CPUs, off for AMD processors. Only works on Intel CPUs
                     (doesn't work with AMD). I'm not clear what the
                     updated microcode does. You can find out your cpu
                     info on Linux systems with this command:
		     cat /proc/cpuinfo
		     More info at:
                     http://www.urbanmyth.org/microcode/

            mysqld - off A crash prone, slow, non-standard SQL
		     database server.

             named - off A DNS server.

           netdump - off Only for diagnosing kernel crashes.

             netfs - off Automatically Mounts and unmounts all Network
                     File System (NFS), SMB/CIFS (Lan
                     Manager/Windows), and NCP (NetWare) mount points.
                     This is the only thing you need if you are an NFS
                     client (e.g. not an NFS server), since netfs will
                     run any other necessary daemons. Netfs may
                     automatically handle everything necessary for the
                     other (non-NFS) protocols, but I've only tested
                     it with NFS. Disable this if you don't use NFS,
                     Samba, or NetWare.

          netplugd - off Automatic recognition of active/inactive
		     network interfaces.

           network - on if you have an Ethernet connection. Off for
                     modem users.

               nfs - off Network File System. Only on to allows other
		     unix systems to share your hard drive (volume, file system). Not
		     necessary if you are a client to a shared volume.

           nfslock - off Provides NFS file locking functionality.
                     Disable if you aren't using NFS. Required by nfs.

              nifd - off Network interface monitor. Calls
		     mDNSResponder if your IP address changes.

              nscd - off Nscd provides cacheing for the passwd(5),
		     group(5), and hosts(5) databases.

              ntpd - off Network Time Protocol. Easier to put this in
		     cron: /usr/sbin/ntpdate -s -u ntp1.virginia.edu

            pcmcia - on for laptop users with PCMCIA cards. Off for
		     desktop machines.

           portmap - off Netfs will start portmap as necessary.
		     Portmap is DARPA port to RPC program number
		     mapper. Required if you are an nfs client or
		     server (although netfs starts portmap for
		     clients, so you don't need it explicitly
		     enabled). If you're not using NFS or NIS, then
		     you should disable portmap. Some (?) versions of
		     portmap are highly insecure. You can run `rpcinfo
		     -p $hostname` against your system to see what
		     additional services it is providing.  More info
		     at:
		     http://cert.uni-stuttgart.de/archive/suse/security/2003/04/msg00141.html

        postgresql - off The most powerful, fastest, easiest to use SQL
		     database. Robust and has excellent documentation. 

            psacct - off Daemon used by several utilities for monitoring process
                     activities, including ac, lastcomm, accton, and sa.

         readahead - off The readahead process preloads the buffer
                     cache with files that might be paged in one 'page
                     demand triggered' read at a time.  This can speed
                     things up of boxes with enough memory. Config
                     file is: /etc/readahead.files

   readahead_early - off See readahead. Config file is: /etc/readahead.early.files

             rhnsd - off Queries the Red Hat Network for updates and
		     information.

           rpcgssd - off Part of the nfs-utils package. Required by nfs.

         rpcidmapd - off Required if you are running an nfs server.

        rpcsvcgssd - off Required by nfs.

         saslauthd - off unless you are using plaintext SASL password
		     authentication

          sendmail - off Part of the mail server. Only on if you
		     machine is mail server.

           sgi_fam - off FAM is a file monitoring daemon that detects
                     when files have changed and then performs some action.

            smartd - off SMART Disk Monitoring Daemon. Monitor hard
		     drive and predict failure.

               smb - off Samba Windows file sharing server.

             snmpd - off Respond to SNMP request packets. Probably
		     only on if another machine is monitoring the
		     status of your machine.

         snmptrapd - off Receive and log SNMP trap messages. SNMP is
		     for monitoring system status.

      spamassassin - off Mail filter to identify spam using text
		     analysis. Only for mail servers(?)

             squid - off Proxy caching server for web and ftp.

              sshd - off SSH daemon. On if you want to ssh into your
		     machine.

            syslog - on Handles logging of system events. It is good
                     to leave this turned on. Logs autorotate and will
                     not fill your hard drive.

               tux - off Apparently a web server.

         vncserver - off Remote desktop sharing.

           winbind - off Related to Samba.

               xfs - on X Windows font server. Use by X windows to
		     support a graphical desktop (including KDE and Gnome)

            xinetd - on Super daemon (aka super server), launches network related daemons
		     on demand.

            ypbind - off Disabled unless you are using and NIS server, usually
		     for password authentication

         yppasswdd - off yppasswdd is the RPC server that lets users
		     change their passwords when you are using NIS
		     (a.k.a. YP).

            ypserv - off ypserv is an implementation of the standard
		     NIS/YP networking protocol.

            ypxfrd - off ypxfrd should be started in addition to ypserv to
		     accelerate transferring yp maps.

               yum - off Yellow dog Updater, Modified. Updates
	             software packages (rpm and/or apt
	             packages). Some people run it nightly, some run
	             it manually. 



Xinetd services in this list are typically all off. Most are totally
unnecessary and several have been (or are) security holes. For a few
years, Red Hat and Fedora had ftp (or vsftp) as an xinetd
service. However, now vsftp is its own service (see
/etc/rc.d/init.d/).

chargen - generates characters
chargen-udp - udp version of chargen
cups-lpd 
daytime - gives out the current system time
daytime-udp - udp version of daytime
echo - echo characters back to the client
echo-udp - upb version of echo
ktalk - KDE version of the talk server
rsync
time - RFC 868 time server.
time-udp - udb version of time


Other lists of Linux daemons. These lists may be out of date:

http://www.hosef.org/wiki/DisablingLinuxServices

http://members.cox.net/tuxxer/services-gui.html