Kalum Umesh

TELNET (TELetype NETwork) is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area network LAN connections.

The telnetd program (telnet server) is a server which supports the DARPA telnet interactive communication protocol. Telnetd is normally invoked by the internet server inetd or xinetd for requests to connect to the telnet port as indicated by the /etc/services file. Usaually telnet listen on port TCP port 23.

Telnet in is insecure protocol and it is recommended that you use ssh server. But some time you really need telnet then first install telnet server as according to version of Linux distribution.

Debain/Ubuntu Linux user type the following command:

# apt-get install telnetd

OR

$ sudo apt-get install telnetdFedora Linux user the following command:


# yum install telnet-server telnetRed Hat enterprise Linux user type the following command:

up2date telnet-server telnetFreeBSD user type the following command:

No need to install new (telnet server) package, it is installed by default (/usr/libexec/telnetd)

Configure telnet server (turn on telnet server)

Again each distribution has its own method to turn on or off telnet service; same applies to telnet UNIX/Linux server.

If you are using Red Hat / Fedora Linux


The configuration file for telnet is /etc/xinetd.d/telnet. To enable telnet server you need to open this file and make sure disable = no read as disable = yes.

Alternately,

# chkconfig telnet onTo start telnet server type command:

# /etc/init.d/xinetd restartIf you are using Debian Linux

The configuration file for telnet is /etc/inetd.conf. By default it is enabled when you install telnet server. To start telnet server type command:


# /etc/init.d/inetd restartIf you are using FreeBSD

The configuration file for telnet is /etc/inetd.conf. Open file using vi text editor and uncomment line:

# vi /etc/inetd.conf

Make sure commented line:

#telnet stream tcp nowait root /usr/libexec/telnetd telnetdRead as follows:

telnet stream tcp nowait root /usr/libexec/telnetd telnetdSave and close the file. Start telnet service:

Enable inetd service so that telnet get loaded:

# vi /etc/rc.confAppend/add following line to configuration file:

inetd_enable="YES"Save and close the file, Rsstart telnet via inetd service:

# /etc/rc.d/inetd restart

Telnet to server (How do I use telnet client?)

You should now be able to telnet to the server from Windows or Linux desktop system. Type the following command to connect to Telnet server:telnet server-ip-address

telnet 192.168.1.5