Anetd can run standalone or as part of an ABone node configuration.
An ABone node configuration consists of several Anetd processes, each
running in a different operating system (OS) user account (which must
never be root). Typically, the set of user accounts used in a
given ABone node configuration is 
anpub, abocc, anee1, anee2, anee3, anee4, anee5
,
corresponding to a set of ABone roles, administered by the ABone
Coordination Center (ABOCC), to which users of the ABone (EE developers)
are assigned according to their EE development projects.
As of Anetd 1.6.6 these ABone roles are no longer necessarily tied to OS accounts having the same names (although it is strongly recommended that any deviation from standard practice be coordinated with ABOCC). Instead, an Anetd process may run under any OS account (distinct from the OS account of any other Anetd process) and act in one of the standard ABone roles. This makes it possible to run multiple distinct ABone node configurations on a single host, where each node configuration uses a different and distinct set of OS accounts. At the same time, the Anetd processes in each node configuration are addressed in the standard way according to their respective ABone roles, so that each node configuration appears to the ABone as if it were configured in the standard way. For example, the Anetd processes for an ABone node might be configured to run under the OS accounts acct1, acct2, acct3, acct4, acct5, acct6, and acct7, but to act in the ABone roles anpub, abocc, anee1, anee2, anee3, anee4, and anee5, respectively. From the point of view of ABone users, all the standard ABone ``accounts'' exist on this node and can be addressed in the usual way. They need not even be aware that the Anetd processes are actually running under OS accounts with different names.
The remainder of this document uses the phrases ``ABone accounts'' and ``ABone roles'' interchangeably to refer to the standard set of roles in which Anetd processes act on the ABone. Where reference needs to be made to the underlying OS accounts, the term ``OS account'' is used.