uucp_manual_setup(7)uucp_manual_setup(7)NAMEuucp_manual_setup - Describes how to manually set up the UNIX-to-UNIX
Copy Program (UUCP)
DESCRIPTION
Setting up UUCP manually includes the following tasks: Checking for
required directories Optionally, creating the UUCP manager's account
Creating UUCP accounts for remote systems Configuring remote communica‐
tions links, which consists of editing the following files: Devices
/etc/inittab Dialers Systems Dialcodes Permissions Poll remote.unknown
/etc/inetd.conf Configuring the uucico daemon Verifying the configura‐
tion files Setting up TCP/IP communications
Before you set up UUCP, be certain that all of the appropriate hardware
is in place. For information on required hardware, see the Network
Administration: Services manual.
CHECKING FOR REQUIRED DIRECTORIES
Verify that the directories, programs, and support files required to
operate the UUCP programs are available on the local system. To per‐
form the verification, log in as superuser and enter the uucheck -v
command. The uucheck program displays an explanation of how it is
checking the file structure. Errors reported by uucheck could indicate
that the software installation process did not complete successfully.
See the Network Administration: Services manual for more information.
CREATING UUCP ACCOUNTS FOR REMOTE SYSTEMS
For a user on a remote system to log in to the local system, the remote
system must have an entry in the local /etc/passwd file, or the user
must know the login ID and password for a designated UUCP account on
the local system. Likewise, for a user on the local system to log in
to a remote system, the local system must have an entry in the remote
system's /etc/passwd file, or the user must know the login ID and pass‐
word of a designated UUCP account on the remote system. You must coor‐
dinate assigning system login names and passwords for the local
/etc/passwd file with the system administrator of the remote system.
By convention, the login ID assigned to remote systems is the remote
system's name with an uppercase U added as a prefix. Many systems, how‐
ever, have a single UUCP account for all remote systems to use.
You must add a user account to the /etc/passwd file for remote systems
that log in to your system.
Use the following procedure to set up a remote system's account: Invoke
vipw to edit the /etc/passwd file: # vipw
The format for entries in the /etc/passwd file is:
name: password: UID: GID: class: home_dir: shell
The following is a sample entry for a remote system:
Uhost1::4:2:uucp login for host1:/usr/spool/uucppublic:\
/usr/lbin/uucp/uucico
For more information, see the passwd(4) reference page. Use the
passwd command to set a password for the new account. Note that
the password you supply does not echo to the screen. # passwd
Uhost1 Changing password for Uhost1. New password: Retype new
password:
The Permissions file is used to further control incoming connec‐
tions and remote systems' access to the local system. For more
information on the Permissions file, see the Permissions refer‐
ence page.
CONFIGURING REMOTE COMMUNICATIONS LINKS
There are three ways to set up the link needed for remote communica‐
tions: Use a hardwired line with a device such as a workstation. The
hardwired connection links a port on the local system to a port on the
remote system. A hardwired line is advantageous when users on local
systems communicate frequently with remote systems; the link is always
available and access time is short. However, a port used for a hard‐
wired communications link is not available for any other purpose.
A hardwired connection is made over an RS-232 or RS-422 serial
port at transmission rates of up to 19,200 bits per second. The
recommended length of such direct links is 50 feet or less
because signal noise becomes a problem with greater distances.
It is possible to obtain longer lengths by using a lower trans‐
mission rate, limited distance modems (short-haul modems), or
both at both ends of the link. Use a telephone line with a
modem. In this case, the user on the local system establishes
the connection to a remote system through an Automatic Calling
Unit (ACU), also referred to as an autodialer or a modem. The
modem attached to the remote system answers the telephone, and
the communications software then completes the connection.
The advantage of a modem connection using a phone line is that
the local and remote ports are not dedicated to a single system.
The disadvantage is that the port of the remote system may be
busy handling a connection with another system. A dialup link
also requires additional software and hardware, such as the ACU,
that is not necessary with a hardwired connection. Use a TCP/IP
connection over a local area network (LAN).
In order for UUCP to function correctly at your site, configure the
remote communication facilities by doing the following: Edit the
Devices file and add a list of the devices used to establish a hard‐
wired communications link, a communications link using TCP/IP, or a
communications link using a telephone line and a modem. For more
information, see the Devices(4) reference page. Edit the Dialers file
and add a list of autodialers (modems) used to contact remote systems
using the telephone network. For more information, see the Dialers(4)
reference page. Edit the Systems file and add a list of the remote
systems with which the local system can communicate. For more informa‐
tion, see the Systems(4) reference page. Optionally, edit the Dial‐
codes file and add a list of alphabetic abbreviations representing the
prefixes of telephone numbers used to contact the specified remote sys‐
tems. For more information, see the Dialcodes(4) reference page. Edit
the Permissions file and add the appropriate access permissions speci‐
fying the way in which local and remote systems can communicate. For
more information, see the Permissions(4) reference page. Edit the Poll
file and add a schedule for monitoring the networked remote systems.
For more information, see the Poll(4) reference page.
CONFIGURING THE UUCICO DAEMON
The uucico daemon transfer UUCP command, data, and execute files to
remote systems. Both the local and remote systems run the uucico dae‐
mon, and the two daemons communicate with each other to complete trans‐
fer requests.
Typically, the uucico daemon is set up as the UUCP users's login shell
for incoming connections, or it is automatically called by various UUCP
commands for outgoing connections, and no further configuration is nec‐
essary. However, you might need to specify the type of flow control
uucico uses for certain UUCP transfers. For example, if you establish
a connection to a terminal server via a modem and then telnet to a UUCP
account, you might require a different type of flow control than a user
who initiates UUCP transfers via a serial port connection.
To specify the type of flow control that the uucico daemon uses, set
the FLWCTL environment variable for the accounts on your system that
are used for UUCP connections. Permitted values for FLWCTL are: HW
(hardware), SW (software), HSW (hardware and software), and NONE. The
local and remote systems should use the same type of flow control. If
the remote site runs UUCP on a different platform, FLWCTL should be set
to NONE on the Tru64 UNIX system.
For example, if you need to establish a UUCP connection over telnet as
previously described, you would set flow control to NONE as follows: $
export FLWCTL=NONE $ /usr/lib/uucp/uutry remote_site
On a system that is configured to allow other sites to dial in, you can
create a customized script that will automatically set the FLWCTL vari‐
able as follows: Create a file, optionally called uu_start, that con‐
tains the following commands:
#! /bin/ksh export FLWCTL=NONE exec /usr/lib/uucp/uucico $*
Change the permissions on the file to make it executable: #
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/uu_start Change the UUCP account's login
shell from /usr/lib/uucp/uucico to the new executable file: #
chsh uucp Old shell: /usr/lib/uucp/uucico New shell:
/usr/local/bin/uu_start
VERIFYING THE CONFIGURATION FILES
When the UUCP files are customized for your site, issue the uucheck
command to check for possible errors in the Permissions file. Remember
that the uucheck command does not check file or directory modes, nor
does it check for duplicate login or MACHINE names.
Issue the uucheck -v command to obtain a detailed explanation of the
way that UUCP interprets the Permissions file.
If the uucheck -v command displays an error message, use the pg command
to examine the Permissions file and make sure the entries are correct.
Then reissue the uucheck -v command.
Use the uuname command to ensure that all the hosts included in the
Systems file on the local system are actually on the UUCP network. If
a system is networked correctly, it appears on the list displayed on
the screen. The hosts on this list are the systems to which users can
send mail.
SETTING UP TCP/IP COMMUNICATIONS
The uucpd daemon handles communications between UUCP and TCP/IP. This
daemon enables users on systems linked over a local area network (LAN)
to establish uucp connections to other systems using TCP/IP connec‐
tions.
Use the following procedure to enable UUCP and TCP/IP to communicate:
Check to see whether the /etc/services file includes the following
line:
uucp 540/tcp uucpd
If it does not, add it to the file. To have the uucpd daemon
start automatically each time the inetd daemon receives one UUCP
request, remove the comment symbol (#) from the following line
in the /etc/inetd.conf file: # uucp stream tcp nowait uucp
/usr/sbin/uucpd uucpd
Restart the inetd daemon. Be sure that the TCP/IP network
between the local and remote systems is working. Issue the ping
command to test that the systems can communicate with one
another. Replace rhost1 with the name of the appropriate remote
host. # ping rhost1
See the ping(8) reference page for more information. Update the
Systems, Devices, and Permissions files in the /usr/lib/uucp
directory to include the relevant TCP/IP entries, as follows: To
update the Systems file do, the following: Select the appropri‐
ate TCP/IP conversation protocol to enter in the TCP caller sub‐
field. There are four kinds of protocols: g, t, e, and f. The g
protocol, the default, provides error checking and thus is use‐
ful over modem connections. However, it creates a large overhead
when running UUCP commands. The t protocol presumes an error-
free channel and thus it is not reliable for use with modem con‐
nections. You can use the t protocol to communicate with a site
running both Tru64 UNIX and Berkeley versions of UUCP. Use the
e protocol to communicate with sites running both Tru64 UNIX
UUCP and other versions of UUCP. The e protocol is not reliable
for modem connections. Use the f protocol to communicate with
sites running versions of UUCP other than Tru64 UNIX. The f pro‐
tocol is not reliable for modem connectors. Add the appropriate
entries to the Systems file.
For example, to connect the local system to system host7 using
the default g protocol, enter the following line in the Systems
file:
host7 Any TCP - - in:--in: uucp1 word: passuucp Replace
the send and expect characters in the example Login field with
the login prompt, login, password prompt, and password that
applies to the remote system to which you are connecting.
The following example shows how to specify that you are using
TCP/IP with the t protocol:
host7 Any TCP,t - - in:--in: uucp1 word: passuucp
To update the Devices file, do the following: Enter the follow‐
ing line in the Devices file:
TCP - - - TCP Specify TCP in the Caller field. Enter dashes
(-) in the Line, Line2, and Class fields. Enter TCP as the
Dialer. This is done to ensure that outgoing calls over TCP/IP
are enabled. To update the Permissions file, enter the appro‐
priate LOGNAME and MACHINE entries. See the Network Administra‐
tion: Services manual for information on editing the Permissions
file.
Note that you must set up an appropriate login ID and password for any
remote system that initiates uucico and uuxqt activities.
RELATED INFORMATIONuucico(8), uucp(1), uucp_intro(7), uucpd(8), uucpsetup(8)
Network Administration: Services
uucp_manual_setup(7)
