Description:
The finger application can be used to print finger information about a user on the local host or any other host in the Internet which also supports the finger protocol. Information which is returned varies from system to system, but generally includes whether a user is currently logged in and when the last time s/he read e-mail.
Usage:
This application is most useful in verifying a user's e-mail address. If the user is fairly sure that their host is a unix system and no finger information can be retrieved from a query, there is a good chance that the user's e-mail address involves a mail exchanger [MX] record.
Syntax:
The inetroom@cni.org account is using finger with the following syntax:
/usr/ucb/finger <e-mail address>
e.g. /usr/ucb/finger rgates@locust.cic.net
Operation on the INETROOM account:
If you select '4' from the main menu, you will be prompted with:
Type the e-mail address you would like to finger.
e.g. john@foo.bar.com
Enter a person's e-mail address at the prompt, and strike RETURN.
---> rgates@locust.cic.net
Login: rgates Name: Rick Gates
Directory: /usr/home/rgates Shell: /bin/csh
Plan:
Hi, I'm Rick, who are you?
Strike RETURN to continue...
Possible errors:
unknown host: <hostname>
The host component of the e-mail address you fingered isn't a valid fully qualified domain name. Try using digger or nslookup to find a mail exchange [MX] record for the host in question, and try fingering the userid at the MX host.
[<hostname>]Login name: userid In real life: ???
The host component of the e-mail address you fingered is a valid fully qualified domain name, but userid component of the e-mail address is invalid. In other words, the userid doesn't exist. If you are sure that the userid is correct, then it must be located on another machine.
[<hostname>]connect: Connection refused
The host component of the e-mail address you fingered is a valid fully qualified domain name, but it does not support the finger protocol. Since most unix workstations and VAX/VMS machines support finger, there is a very good chance that it is an IBM mainframe as a result. Remember to use the tn3270 application to establish a connection with IBM mainframes.