Xinetd

Hi all, I installed xinetd instead of inetd. All I need to do is just provide some basic filtering to the SSHD from the local lan and one internet host. I've configured the hosts.allow and hosts.deny files instead of xinetd config files, as I don't need the added features xinetd provides. My question is, does the xinetd process have to running to make use of the hosts.allow and deny files? I can connect ok from the local lan, but the internet host is just getting dropped. By the way, xinetd is not currently running. Thanks for any insight! Kevin