Some servers do not allow me to connect because of “identd”. What is this?

Usman

identd is an old protocol that servers used to identify which user on a shared system was connecting to them. Nowadays, it is most often used to weed out clones and floodbots from compromised machines (which usually don't have identd [the ident daemon] installed). You may have seen something similar to this in your status window:

* identd request from newyork.nationchat.org
* identd replied: 1963, 6667 : USERID : UNIX : NationUSER

This is your IRC client responding to an ident request.

Some servers require that your computer respond to an ident request, and if the server doesn't receive a reply, it won't allow you to connect.

Problems with identd usually stem from two sources:

1. Your identd is turned off.
2. You're behind a firewall or NAT router.

In the first case, if you are using mIRC, just issue the following command: /identd on myusername

If you are not using mIRC, you should check your client documentation to determine whether or not it has an identd feature, and where it's located.

The second case is more difficult to resolve. You still need to have identd enabled, but you must also open TCP port 113 on your router or firewall. To do this, you will have to consult your router or firewall's documentation.

As a last result, you can try to find another NationCHAT server, one that doesn't require identd. For a list of NationCHAT servers, see our servers list.