Although inetd is the classic Internet superserver, there have been recent rewrites that attempt to add features and more security. The xinetd program replaces inetd in many modern distributions, including Red Hat and Debian. Some of its extended features are:

• Access control (built-in TCP wrappers)
• Extensive logging (connection durations, failed connections, etc.)
• Redirection of services from another host
• IPv6 support
• Configuration via snippets rather than one consolidated file