On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 08:10:24PM +0200, Martin F. Krafft wrote: | also sprach Joost Kooij (on Thu, 19 Jul 2001 12:25:30PM +0200): | > telnet 127.0.0.1 25 | > | > or | > | > telnet localhost smtp | | or | | netstat -lAinet | grep smtp | | which is better since it gives a more certain answer whether the smtp | port is bound to, or not. also, telnet is a protocol, and *if* you
telnet provides console access to a port. Sure, telnet is a protocol, but the telnet protocol just negotiates terminal capabilities. If you're not connecting to telnetd you get no capabilities aside from sending a character and receiving a character. If you telnet to the smtp port then you are being your own MTA and must type all the SMTP protocol data manually. It is useful for testing the MTA you are connecting to because you see _everything_ it tells you and it is also useful for toying around with network protocols. -D
