


KINIT(1)                                                 KINIT(1)


NAME
       kinit - Kerberos login utility

SYNOPSIS
       kinit [ -irvl ]

DESCRIPTION
       The kinit command is used to login to the Kerberos authen-
       tication and authorization system.  Note that only  regis-
       tered  Kerberos  users  can  use the Kerberos system.  For
       information about registering as a Kerberos user, see  the
       kerberos(1) manual page.

       If  you are logged in to a workstation that is running the
       toehold service, you do not have to use kinit.   The  toe-
       hold  login procedure will log you into Kerberos automati-
       cally.  You will need to use kinit only  in  those  situa-
       tions in which your original tickets have expired.  (Tick-
       ets expire in about a day.)  Note  as  well  that  toehold
       will  automatically  destroy  your tickets when you logout
       from the workstation.

       When you use kinit without options,  the  utility  prompts
       for  your  username  and  Kerberos  password, and tries to
       authenticate your login with the local Kerberos server.

       If  Kerberos  authenticates  the  login   attempt,   kinit
       retrieves  your  initial  ticket and puts it in the ticket
       file specified by your KRBTKFILE environment variable.  If
       this  variable is undefined, your ticket will be stored in
       the /tmp directory, in the file tktuid , where uid  speci-
       fies your user identification number.

       If  you  have logged in to Kerberos without the benefit of
       the workstation toehold system, make sure you use the kde-
       stroy command to destroy any active tickets before you end
       your login session.  You may want to put the kdestroy com-
       mand  in  your  .logout  file so that your tickets will be
       destroyed automatically when you logout.

       The options to kinit are as follows:

       -i     kinit prompts you for a Kerberos instance.

       -r     kinit prompts  you  for  a  Kerberos  realm.   This
              option lets you authenticate yourself with a remote
              Kerberos server.

       -v     Verbose mode.  kinit prints the name of the  ticket
              file used, and a status message indicating the suc-
              cess or failure of your login attempt.

       -l     kinit prompts you for a ticket lifetime in minutes.
              Due to protocol restrictions in Kerberos Version 4,



MIT Project Athena     Kerberos Version 4.0                     1





KINIT(1)                                                 KINIT(1)


              this value must be between 5 and 1275 minutes.

SEE ALSO
       kerberos(1), kdestroy(1), klist(1)

BUGS
       The -r option has not been fully implemented.

AUTHORS
       Steve Miller, MIT Project Athena/Digital Equipment  Corpo-
       ration
       Clifford Neuman, MIT Project Athena













































MIT Project Athena     Kerberos Version 4.0                     2


