
TELNETD(8)                BSD System Manager's Manual               TELNETD(8)

NAME
     telnetd -- DARPA TELNET protocol server

SYNOPSIS
     telnetd [-BeUhkln] [-D debugmode] [-S tos] [-X authtype] [-a authmode]
             [-rlowpty-highpty] [-u len] [-debug] [-L /bin/login] [-y] [port]

DESCRIPTION
     The telnetd command is a server which supports the DARPA standard TELNET
     virtual terminal protocol.  Telnetd is normally invoked by the internet
     server (see inetd(8)) for requests to connect to the TELNET port as indi-
     cated by the /etc/services file (see services(5)).  The -debug option may
     be used to start up telnetd manually, instead of through inetd(8).  If
     started up this way, port may be specified to run telnetd on an alternate
     TCP port number.

     The telnetd command accepts the following options:

     -a authmode  This option may be used for specifying what mode should be
                  used for authentication.  Note that this option is only use-
                  ful if telnetd has been compiled with support for the
                  AUTHENTICATION option.  There are several valid values for
                  authmode:

                  debug  Turns on authentication debugging code.

                  user   Only allow connections when the remote user can pro-
                         vide valid authentication information to identify the
                         remote user, and is allowed access to the specified
                         account without providing a password.

                  valid  Only allow connections when the remote user can pro-
                         vide valid authentication information to identify the
                         remote user.  The login(1) command will provide any
                         additional user verification needed if the remote
                         user is not allowed automatic access to the specified
                         account.

                  other  Only allow connections that supply some authentica-
                         tion information.  This option is currently not sup-
                         ported by any of the existing authentication mecha-
                         nisms, and is thus the same as specifying -a valid.

                  otp    Only allow authenticated connections (as with -a
                         user) and also logins with one-time passwords (OTPs).
                         This option will call login with an option so that
                         only OTPs are accepted.  The user can of course still
                         type secret information at the prompt.

                  none   This is the default state.  Authentication informa-
                         tion is not required.  If no or insufficient authen-
                         tication information is provided, then the login(1)
                         program will provide the necessary user verification.

                  off    This disables the authentication code.  All user ver-
                         ification will happen through the login(1) program.

     -B           Ignored.

     -D debugmode
                  This option may be used for debugging purposes.  This allows
                  telnetd to print out debugging information to the connec-
                  tion, allowing the user to see what telnetd is doing.  There
                  are several possible values for debugmode:

                  options   Prints information about the negotiation of TELNET
                            options.

                  report    Prints the options information, plus some addi-
                            tional information about what processing is going
                            on.

                  netdata   Displays the data stream received by telnetd.

                  ptydata   Displays data written to the pty.

                  exercise  Has not been implemented yet.

     -e           require encryption to be turned on (in both direction) by
                  the client and disconnects if the client tries to turn the
                  encryption off (in either direction).

     -h           Disables the printing of host-specific information before
                  login has been completed.

     -k

     -l           Ignored.

     -n           Disable TCP keep-alives.  Normally telnetd enables the TCP
                  keep-alive mechanism to probe connections that have been
                  idle for some period of time to determine if the client is
                  still there, so that idle connections from machines that
                  have crashed or can no longer be reached may be cleaned up.

     -r lowpty-highpty
                  This option is only enabled when telnetd is compiled for
                  UNICOS.  It specifies an inclusive range of pseudo-terminal
                  devices to use.  If the system has sysconf variable
                  _SC_CRAY_NPTY configured, the default pty search range is 0
                  to _SC_CRAY_NPTY; otherwise, the default range is 0 to 128.
                  Either lowpty or highpty may be omitted to allow changing
                  either end of the search range.  If lowpty is omitted, the -
                  character is still required so that telnetd can differenti-
                  ate highpty from lowpty.

     -S tos

     -u len       This option is used to specify the size of the field in the
                  utmp structure that holds the remote host name.  If the
                  resolved host name is longer than len, the dotted decimal
                  value will be used instead.  This allows hosts with very
                  long host names that overflow this field to still be
                  uniquely identified.  Specifying -u0 indicates that only
                  dotted decimal addresses should be put into the utmp file.

     -U           This option causes telnetd to refuse connections from
                  addresses that cannot be mapped back into a symbolic name
                  via the gethostbyaddr(3) routine.

     -X authtype  This option is only valid if telnetd has been built with
                  support for the authentication option.  It disables the use
                  of authtype authentication, and can be used to temporarily
                  disable a specific authentication type without having to
                  recompile telnetd.

     -L pathname  Specify pathname to an alternative login program.

     -y           Makes telnetd not warn when a user is trying to login with a
                  cleartext password.

     Telnetd operates by allocating a pseudo-terminal device (see pty(4)) for
     a client, then creating a login process which has the slave side of the
     pseudo-terminal as stdin, stdout and stderr.  Telnetd manipulates the
     master side of the pseudo-terminal, implementing the TELNET protocol and
     passing characters between the remote client and the login process.

     When a TELNET session is started up, telnetd sends TELNET options to the
     client side indicating a willingness to do the following TELNET options,
     which are described in more detail below:

           DO AUTHENTICATION
           WILL ENCRYPT
           DO TERMINAL TYPE
           DO TSPEED
           DO XDISPLOC
           DO NEW-ENVIRON
           DO ENVIRON
           WILL SUPPRESS GO AHEAD
           DO ECHO
           DO LINEMODE
           DO NAWS
           WILL STATUS
           DO LFLOW
           DO TIMING-MARK

     The pseudo-terminal allocated to the client is configured to operate in
     ``cooked'' mode, and with XTABS and CRMOD enabled (see tty(4)).

     Telnetd has support for enabling locally the following TELNET options:

     WILL ECHO          When the LINEMODE option is enabled, a WILL ECHO or
                        WONT ECHO will be sent to the client to indicate the
                        current state of terminal echoing.  When terminal echo
                        is not desired, a WILL ECHO is sent to indicate that
                        telnetd will take care of echoing any data that needs
                        to be echoed to the terminal, and then nothing is
                        echoed.  When terminal echo is desired, a WONT ECHO is
                        sent to indicate that telnetd will not be doing any
                        terminal echoing, so the client should do any terminal
                        echoing that is needed.

     WILL BINARY        Indicates that the client is willing to send a 8 bits
                        of data, rather than the normal 7 bits of the Network
                        Virtual Terminal.

     WILL SGA           Indicates that it will not be sending IAC GA, go
                        ahead, commands.

     WILL STATUS        Indicates a willingness to send the client, upon
                        request, of the current status of all TELNET options.

     WILL TIMING-MARK   Whenever a DO TIMING-MARK command is received, it is
                        always responded to with a WILL TIMING-MARK

     WILL LOGOUT        When a DO LOGOUT is received, a WILL LOGOUT is sent in
                        response, and the TELNET session is shut down.

     WILL ENCRYPT       Only sent if telnetd is compiled with support for data
                        encryption, and indicates a willingness to decrypt the
                        data stream.

     Telnetd has support for enabling remotely the following TELNET options:

     DO BINARY          Sent to indicate that telnetd is willing to receive an
                        8 bit data stream.

     DO LFLOW           Requests that the client handle flow control charac-
                        ters remotely.

     DO ECHO            This is not really supported, but is sent to identify
                        a 4.2BSD telnet(1) client, which will improperly
                        respond with WILL ECHO.  If a WILL ECHO is received, a
                        DONT ECHO will be sent in response.

     DO TERMINAL-TYPE   Indicates a desire to be able to request the name of
                        the type of terminal that is attached to the client
                        side of the connection.

     DO SGA             Indicates that it does not need to receive IAC GA, the
                        go ahead command.

     DO NAWS            Requests that the client inform the server when the
                        window (display) size changes.

     DO TERMINAL-SPEED  Indicates a desire to be able to request information
                        about the speed of the serial line to which the client
                        is attached.

     DO XDISPLOC        Indicates a desire to be able to request the name of
                        the X windows display that is associated with the tel-
                        net client.

     DO NEW-ENVIRON     Indicates a desire to be able to request environment
                        variable information, as described in RFC 1572.

     DO ENVIRON         Indicates a desire to be able to request environment
                        variable information, as described in RFC 1408.

     DO LINEMODE        Only sent if telnetd is compiled with support for
                        linemode, and requests that the client do line by line
                        processing.

     DO TIMING-MARK     Only sent if telnetd is compiled with support for both
                        linemode and kludge linemode, and the client responded
                        with WONT LINEMODE.  If the client responds with WILL
                        TM, the it is assumed that the client supports kludge
                        linemode.  Note that the [-k] option can be used to
                        disable this.

     DO AUTHENTICATION  Only sent if telnetd is compiled with support for
                        authentication, and indicates a willingness to receive
                        authentication information for automatic login.

     DO ENCRYPT         Only sent if telnetd is compiled with support for data
                        encryption, and indicates a willingness to decrypt the
                        data stream.

FILES
     /etc/services
     /etc/inittab   (UNICOS systems only)
     /etc/iptos     (if supported)

SEE ALSO
     telnet(1), login(1)

STANDARDS
     RFC-854   TELNET PROTOCOL SPECIFICATION
     RFC-855   TELNET OPTION SPECIFICATIONS
     RFC-856   TELNET BINARY TRANSMISSION
     RFC-857   TELNET ECHO OPTION
     RFC-858   TELNET SUPPRESS GO AHEAD OPTION
     RFC-859   TELNET STATUS OPTION
     RFC-860   TELNET TIMING MARK OPTION
     RFC-861   TELNET EXTENDED OPTIONS - LIST OPTION
     RFC-885   TELNET END OF RECORD OPTION
     RFC-1073  Telnet Window Size Option
     RFC-1079  Telnet Terminal Speed Option
     RFC-1091  Telnet Terminal-Type Option
     RFC-1096  Telnet X Display Location Option
     RFC-1123  Requirements for Internet Hosts -- Application and Support
     RFC-1184  Telnet Linemode Option
     RFC-1372  Telnet Remote Flow Control Option
     RFC-1416  Telnet Authentication Option
     RFC-1411  Telnet Authentication: Kerberos Version 4
     RFC-1412  Telnet Authentication: SPX
     RFC-1571  Telnet Environment Option Interoperability Issues
     RFC-1572  Telnet Environment Option

BUGS
     Some TELNET commands are only partially implemented.

     Because of bugs in the original 4.2 BSD telnet(1), telnetd performs some
     dubious protocol exchanges to try to discover if the remote client is, in
     fact, a 4.2 BSD telnet(1).

     Binary mode has no common interpretation except between similar operating
     systems (Unix in this case).

     The terminal type name received from the remote client is converted to
     lower case.

     Telnetd never sends TELNET IAC GA (go ahead) commands.

4.2 Berkeley Distribution     September 19, 2006     4.2 Berkeley Distribution
