Hello everybody!

I'm new to this forum and i need some advice about the telnet service on Mandriva.
The reason i need to use telnet is to access other computers from the university's operating systems lab, so i don't think there could be a problem with security.
Can anyone tell me how to configure telnet on the server? Would it be easier to configure ssh? As i told you, there are no security issues.
Thank you in advance!I'm waiting for your answers.

Regards, Alexandra

telnet becomes a more onbscure service to actually run, normally now just a sub server for xinetd to manage. if it's not already installed just install it from your distro cd's, normally a case of also explicitly enabling it in /etc/xinetd.d/telnet as it's (rightly) disabled by default in there.

ssh is always a better option though, and normally easier to configture although both are normally config free for a basic setup.

I have tried to configure ssh, but seems that i can't access the server with ssh. All the other computers from the laboratory i'm working in do not support ssh, that's why i can't use ssh. Maybe it's because they only have Windows.
Anyway, i have tried to configure the server on Mandriva and i have installed the telnet-bsd-1.2 package.Then, in the file telnet.xinetd i have set "disable=no" and in this file there is a line "server=/usr/sbin/in.telnetd"; when i checked this location, there was no such file. And when i try to start the service with the command "service telnet start", i get the message "service not found".
Can anyone help me configure the telnet service? Any advice is good.
Thank you in advance!

Alexandra

there is no telnet service, it's all handled by xinetd, if that is running and the telnet config file for xinetd is not set to be disblaed then telnet will be running. if you can not connect to it then i woudl be expecting some sort of firewall to be blocking you.

Hello Chris!
Thanks again for ypur reply. Yes, i have tried to connect to the server with telnet, but i can't. There is connectivity in the network, because it does reply to ping. As far as i know, there is no firewall configured on the server, nor the computers.
What could be the problem here?

Regards, Alexandra

A university with a Operating system lab and no firewalls, whew, that sounds too hot.

Check the ports are available for telnet, or ssh for that matter.

If the ping packets are being dropped then what is dropping them? A firewall, a packet server/filter?

I think you need to do some homework and/or speak to your campus network-admin.

Sorry, but i will take responsibility for my words and eat them if I must.

(edit) I just spotted this in networks, it may be related..........

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=493717

Good luck, Glenn

Thank you for your answer, Glenn!
The ping packets are not dropped, ping is ok (that's when i ping the server from a computer within the lab).
As far as i know, the telnet port is usually port 23. But how can i check the ports available for telnet on the linux server?
I have another suspicion about the server: since the OS has been recently installed (mandriva 2006), maybe the telnet server has not been properly installed.I have seen there is the telnet-bsd-1.2 package on the server, but maybe this is not a server package, maybe it's a client package. Could this be the reason of the telnet connection failure ?(maybe it is a stupid question, but i haven't dealed with this problem before )

Regards, Alexandra

(edit) Gulp, Gulp (eating words) sorry "reply to ping OK" (imitates blind man waving hands around in front of himself)

Try netstat -an at a console terminal to see what active connections are available.

Also see it netstat --help gives you more options along the lines you need.

MDV 2007 x86_64 has a client on the cd's.........
2007.0-x86_64-disc2 telnet-client-krb5-1.4.3-6mdv2007.0.x86_64

I586.......
2007.0-i586-disc3 perl-Net-Telnet-3.03-5mdk.noarch
2007.0-i586-disc3 telnet-client-krb5-1.4.3-6mdv2007.0.i586

There's a pile of ssl stuff too, and this is the free version, so I'd think it would be there for 2006.0 as well.

ps. A live cd I came across once called HELIX had a lot of network discovery tools on it, Glenn

Hi, After my Lecture on wednesday involving telnet, I believe that they would be foolish to allow telnet server to be installed on the server, because this would allow any prep-school or tafe student(, and undergraduates for that matter) to hack in to the system.

They probably uss ssl, and putty or some-such program, but then, from the server, not to it.

How is it working out for you?

Keep us informed, huh?

Hello everybody!
Sorry for my absence, i haven't posted in the last 2 weeks.
I have solved the problem with telnet. We have installed Fedora Core on the server and the distribution came with the telnet service. I know you are all right about the security issue on telnet, anyone can access the lab server from anywhere, but the teacher wanted this way.... So what can i say? Let it be telnet
Thank you all for your suggestions and answers! Keep in touch!
Regards, Alexandra

cool, I'm glad you found it.

rpmbone may have a telnet server for mdv

GlennsPref wrote,
"A university with a Operating system lab and no firewalls, whew, that sounds too hot."

A major recipe for disaster !

Hello everybody!
On Windows there is a filewall, but i don't know for Linux...
As far as i know (related to the security issue), there is no important information on the server, just scripts and files for the Operating Systems laboratory. So maybe no one wants to hack the server. Our teacher does not keep the important documents on the server, he has his own PC in his office.

Regards, Alexandra

This is irrelevant. A bot is a bot

ps -eaf | grep -i iptable
if it returns something you have a firewall for sure
if not, then you still would not know