telnet problem - I have searched all over
 

I am trying to get telnet to work. I know that I should use ssh (but I am doing this for experimental reasoning). I have installed the server and found that it is suposed to be working. For example, here are some of the tests that I did:

=========================================
[mike@localhost xinetd.d]$ /sbin/chkconfig --list | grep telnet
#telnet#: on
telnet: on
[mike@localhost xinetd.d]$ netstat -pant | egrep :23
(Not all processes could be identified, non-owned process info
will not be shown, you would have to be root to see it all.)
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:23 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN -
[mike@localhost xinetd.d]$ telnet 192.168.0.101
Trying 192.168.0.101...
Connected to 192.168.0.101.
Escape character is '^]'.
Red Hat Linux release 9 (Shrike)
Kernel 2.4.20-6 on an i686
login
=========================================

The problem is that I cannot connect via other computers on the LAN or through a Virtual server on my router. I can however connect via the local computer. Any suggestions? (besides switching to ssh :) )

edit /etc/inetd.conf and /etc/services, make sure the telnet lines are not commented out, if they are uncomment and do a kill -HUP (INETD PID) you can find the pid with ps -aux

I found xinetd.conf, not intetd.conf, and that had no lines commented out. Neither did services. Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

-Mike

sorry, I don't

Is your firewall blocking access to port 23? That would explain why you could connect from within the machine, but not from outside.

I am not concerned about the firewall (router) just yet because I cannot connect via another computer within the firewall. Maybe it has something to do with Redhat's firewall?

Thanks for all the help so far.

-Mike

Yes, I was suggesting that you look at the RedHat firewall. That may be where your trouble is.

I changed the Redhat configuration through one of the system (GUI) tools. (I would like to know what this does under the GUI). Now I can telnet with all of my LAN computers, but I cannot telnet from an outside source. Does this mean that my router/firewall is not working correctly?

-Mike

Well it turns out that it was a problem with my firewall/router. I updated the firmware and it worked great. Thanks all for the help.

The GUI front ends you are using all deal with iptables (or ipchains on older distros). If you do a search on iptables here you will find TONS of info, including several firewall script examples. Learning iptables isn't a bad thing as it would allow you to customize your firewall very easily.