start and stop telnet service on Linux

Hi_This_is_Dev · 09-20-2010, 10:32 PM

I googled it and found this information:

To enable the telnet service, login to the server as the root user account
and run the following commands:

Code:

# chkconfig telnet on
# service xinetd reload

but the very first command did not work.

So, how do we...

[1] start and stop telnet service on UNIX / Linux?

[2] specify configurations / settings for the telnet service to accept or deny connections

and so on...?

basheer · 09-20-2010, 10:46 PM

what messages is it giving, can you post the messages.
Which distribution are you using?
Most probably chkconfig is not installed.

Post the output of both the commands here.

leejohnli · 09-21-2010, 12:29 AM

Why don't you just block the port thru iptables or firewall built-in on your distro in order to deny telnet connection

kirukan · 09-21-2010, 12:33 AM

Why you try to use telnet instead of ssh? telnet not secure than ssh

linuxlover.chaitanya · 09-21-2010, 01:34 AM

Do you know for sure that telnet has been installed on your system? If not then install it. Also look for the telnet file inside xinet.d and see if it has been disabled. By default it is. You need to enable the service. But for security reasons, use ssh. Telnet is highly insecure. Do you have any specific reason for using telnet?

Hi_This_is_Dev · 09-21-2010, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by linuxlover.chaitanya

Do you know for sure that telnet has been installed on your system? If not then install it.

Really not sure. But this command works:

Code:

-bash-2.05b# service xinetd status
xinetd (pid 1332) is running...

And this file does exits:

Code:

-bash-2.05b# cat /etc/xinetd.d//telnet
# default: on
# description: The telnet server serves telnet sessions; it uses \
#       unencrypted username/password pairs for authentication.
service telnet
{
        disable = no
        flags           = REUSE
        socket_type     = stream
        wait            = no
        user            = root
        server          = /usr/sbin/in.telnetd
        log_on_failure  += USERID
}
-bash-2.05b#

Quote:

Do you have any specific reason for using telnet?

Nope! Not at all! Some interviewers asked me that question yesterday. And I was....

then said... maybe service telnetd stop would do the work... he repeated... "the service name is telnetd right...?"

So, you know now that I am testing it on my Linux box and learning from my experience I had at the interview.

linuxlover.chaitanya · 09-22-2010, 12:53 AM

You need to turn on the xinetd service for telnet. Telnetd is the daemon that you can specify to allow or deny connections using tcpwrappers.