Setting Up a Telnet Server in Ubuntu
Posted by admin on December 23rd, 2006 
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Install Telnet Server in Ubuntu
You will find the Telnet server installation packages in Synaptic under the telnetd package.If you want to install telnet server package you can also use the following command
sudo apt-get install telnetd
This will complete the installation.Now you Restart inetd service using the following command
sudo /etc/init.d/inetd restart
Once installed, select Administration, Services and enable Telnet
you can now fire up your other Linux box and type telnet . You are prompted to enter your username and password. The whole conversation should look like this
telnet 192.168.0.1
Trying 192.168.0.1…
Connected to 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1)
Escape character is ‘^]’.
Welcome to telnetserver
Running Ubuntu LAMP server
* All access is logged *
login: admin12
Password:
Last login: Sat Dec 25 1:05:1 from 192.168.0.1
[admin12@telnetserver ~]$
If you are using windows machine you can download telnet clients if you like like putty and teraterm to connect.
Note that the server responds with Welcome to telnetserver, running Ubuntu LAMP server, which is a customized message. Your machine will probably respond with Ubuntu and some version information. This is insecure: giving away version numbers is never a smart move. In fact, even saying Ubuntu is questionable. Edit the issue and issue.net files in your /etc directory to change these messages.
Running the w command now shows you as connecting from the external IP address.
Telnet is fast but also insecure. It sends all your text, including your password, in plain text that can be read by anyone with the right tools. SSH, on the other hand, encrypts all your communication and so is more resource-intensive but secureeven a government security agency sniffing your packets for some reason would still have a hard time cracking the encryption.If you are looking for SSH server configuration in ubuntu check here
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March 10th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Thanks for the nice and simple guide…
A little note that might help a newbie (like me). It seems that inetd is not installed by default on Ubuntu. At least that was the case with me on Edgy. I had to install the netkit-inetd package (standard shipped with Ubuntu) and this installed the standard inetd components.
March 27th, 2007 at 4:09 am
Here is the correct way to set up a telnet server:
DON’T.
Use SSH. There are clients for every platform
March 27th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I also needed to install the netkit-inetd package to get the telnet server to work. I’m using Dapper LTS.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
you know, sometimes telnetd is needed period. yes, we all know that it old, but like i said…sometimes it’s needed and one doesn’t always have a choice…dig?
don’t listen to what B is trying to tell you. he’s a noob no doubt.
December 12th, 2007 at 9:22 am
hey could someone help ?
I tried to Restart inetd service but am getting this error
-bash: /etc/init.d/inetd: No such file or directory
January 30th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
As insecure as it is, sometimes Telnet is needed. For instance, my workplace firewall blocks outgoing traffic on port 22 and only has basic ports open for Telnet, FTP, and HTTP. It’s a dumb blocking rule, but they won’t open it.
If you only need telnet access from certain IPs like I do, you can lock it down some by using /etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:45 am
On Ubuntu 7.10 I found we have to install inetutils-inetd and do /etc/init.d/inetutils-inetd restart. Rest of the steps still hold.
February 19th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Eek !! Telnet. Do not use it.
* @Deiussum : the port 22 is blocked by the firewall ? Use SSH on the Telnet port.
* You need a SSH client for Windows ? I can think of two softwares :
- PuTTY : A SSH client : http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/%7Esgtatham/putty/
- WinSCP : A SCP client (for file transfers using SSH) : http://winscp.net/eng/docs/lang:fr