This is a list of Unix daemons that are found on various Unix-like operating systems. Unix daemons typically have a name ending with a d.
| Process | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| init | The Unix program which spawns all other processes. As of 2016, for major Linux distributions, it has been replaced by systemd.[1] | |
| biod | Works in cooperation with the remote nfsd to handle client NFS requests. | |
| crond | Time-based job scheduler, runs jobs in the background. | |
| dhcpd | Dynamically configure TCP/IP information for clients. | |
| fingerd | Provides a network interface for the finger protocol, as used by the finger command. | |
| ftpd | Services FTP requests from a remote system. | |
| httpd | Web server daemon. | |
| inetd | Listens for network connection requests. If a request is accepted, it can launch a background daemon to handle the request, was known as the super server for this reason. Some systems use the replacement command xinetd. | |
| lpd | The line printer daemon that manages printer spooling. | |
| nfsd | Processes NFS operation requests from client systems. Historically each nfsd daemon handled one request at a time, so it was normal to start multiple copies. | |
| ntpd | Network Time Protocol daemon that manages clock synchronization across the network. xntpd implements the version 3 standard of NTP. | |
| portmap/rpcbind | Provides information to allow ONC RPC clients to contact ONC RPC servers | |
| sshd | Listens for Secure Shell requests from clients. | |
| sendmail | SMTP daemon. | |
| swapper | Copies process regions to swap space in order to reclaim physical pages of memory for the kernel. Also called sched. | |
| syslogd | System logger process that collects various system messages. | |
| syncd | Periodically keeps the file systems synchronized with system memory. | |
| systemd | Replacement of init, the Unix program which spawns all other processes. | |
| xfsd | Serve X11 fonts to remote clients. | |
| vhand | Releases pages of memory for use by other processes. Also known as the "page stealing daemon" | |
| ypbind | Find the server for an NIS domain and store the information in a file. |