---
name: "ipa-rmkeytab"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "freeipa-client"
version: "4.12.4-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/ipa-rmkeytab"
---

# ipa-rmkeytab(1)

Remove a kerberos principal from a keytab

## NAME

ipa-rmkeytab - Remove a kerberos principal from a keytab

## SYNOPSIS

ipa-rmkeytab \[ **-p** principal-name \] \[ **-k** keytab-file \] \[ **-r** realm \] \[ **-d** \]

## DESCRIPTION

Removes a kerberos principal from a *keytab*.

Kerberos keytabs are used for services (like sshd) to perform kerberos authentication. A keytab is a file with one or more secrets (or keys) for a kerberos principal.

A kerberos service principal is a kerberos identity that can be used for authentication. Service principals contain the name of the service, the hostname of the server, and the realm name.

ipa-rmkeytab provides two ways to remove principals. A specific principal can be removed or all principals for a given realm can be removed.

All encryption types and versions of a principal are removed.

The realm may be included when removing a specific principal but it is not required.

**NOTE:** removing a principal from the keytab does not affect the Kerberos principal stored in the IPA server. It merely removes the entry from the local keytab.

## OPTIONS

- **-p principal-name**

  The non-realm part of the full principal name.

- **-k keytab-file**

  The keytab file to remove the principal(s) from.

- **-r realm**

  A realm to remove all principals for.

- **-d**

  Debug mode. Additional information is displayed.

## EXAMPLES

Remove the NFS service principal on the host foo.example.com from /tmp/nfs.keytab.

   \# ipa-rmkeytab -p nfs/foo.example.com -k /tmp/nfs.keytab

Remove the ldap service principal on the host foo.example.com from /etc/krb5.keytab.

   \# ipa-rmkeytab -p ldap/foo.example.com -k /etc/krb5.keytab

Remove all principals for the realm EXAMPLE.COM.

  \# ipa-rmkeytab -r EXAMPLE.COM -k /etc/krb5.keytab

## EXIT STATUS

The exit status is 0 on success, nonzero on error.

1 Kerberos initialization failed

2 Memory allocation error

3 Unable to open keytab

4 Unable to parse the principal name

5 Principal name or realm not found in keytab

6 Unable to remove principal from keytab

7 Failed to set cursor