what is the use of telnet
 

hello all,

i ama new user of linux.

don't know all the features. trying to understand .

please tell me what is mean by telnet? and how to use it.
i read it from a book also frm this site. but can't udnerstand exactly what it is?

here systems are working in redhat linux version 9.0

please how to use it practically if anyone give guidlines to check it out on the computer i will be greatefull to you.

i have to type 'telnet on the terminal' , then what to do?

waiting for anyones reply.....


thankyou

telnet is an unencrypted way to communicate with another host. there has to be an telnet-server (telnetd) running on the side you want to connect to.

$ telnet 192.168.2.23

..will open a connection to host 192.168.2.23 and you should get a login screen (issue.net).

if you communicate over the (unsecure) internet use ssh (secure shell) which is encrypted.

sl mritch.

Telnet is about the oldest way of setting up a two way TCP connection I guess... Not sure though...

It is safe in local networks where you trust every member of the network... as Telnet provides you a shell access (like on your local machine, typing commands from the command line) on a remote computer, which eliminates the need to get to the remote machine physically.

As it is old - fashioned and unencrypted, like mritch says, you should consider ssh (secure shell) to log in to remote machines when you need passwords to authenticate. a Telnet server is needed on the other end for telnet, and for SSH you obviously need an SSH server on the other end...
I don't know about a linux distribution that doesn't come with ssh server out-of-the-box these days..

I currently use telnet for no other means than to test TCP connections to services like HTTP, SMTP, to test functionality.

Hope this helps instead of making you confused now.