On Thu, Oct 25, 2001 at 11:02:02AM -0600, John Purser wrote: > I can ping 127.0.0.1 but not telnet to it. I'm guessing telnet connectivity > is turned off by default.
You guess correctly. Standard warning: Telnet sends all data - including your password - across the network in plain text, making it very, very easy for anyone else on the network to retrieve your password and compromise your account(s). Sensitive data (again, including passwords) should not be transmitted via telnet over any network unless all machines and all users on that network are absolutely trusted. Use an encrypted protocol, such as ssh, instead. > Where do I go to turn it on? I haven't used > telnet on my network before but it's suggested as a test in a HOW-TO I'm > working through. # apt-get install telnetd-ssl telnet-ssl # telnet localhost # apt-get remove --purge telnetd-ssl # apt-get install ssh (The telnet-ssl and telnetd-ssl packages give you a telnet client and server which will use SSL to encrypt your data if the other end of the connection also has that capability. However, they have an unfortunate tendency to fall back to plaintext when speaking to non-SSL-enabled telnets. Given that and the wider usage of ssh, I just stick with ssh for remote connection purposes.) -- When we reduce our own liberties to stop terrorism, the terrorists have already won. - reverius Innocence is no protection when governments go bad. - Mr. Slippery
