How To Install Telnet on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Telnet on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Telnet is a client-server protocol that allows users to establish remote terminal sessions on networked computers. Developed in the late 1960s, Telnet was one of the first internet protocols, enabling users to interact with remote systems as if they were directly connected to them. Telnet operates on a simple text-based interface, making it lightweight and easy to use for various tasks, such as remote system administration, debugging, and accessing network services.

However, it’s crucial to note that Telnet sends data, including login credentials, in plain text, making it vulnerable to security risks. As a result, its usage has declined in favor of more secure protocols like SSH. Nevertheless, Telnet remains a useful tool for certain scenarios, such as testing network connectivity and interacting with legacy systems.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the Telnet on Ubuntu 22.04. You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 22.04 and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint, Elementary OS, Pop!_OS, and more as well.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• Access the terminal on your Ubuntu system, where we’ll execute the commands for a seamless Telnet installation.
• An active internet connection. You’ll need an internet connection to download the necessary packages and dependencies for Telnet.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install Telnet on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish

Step 1. Before installing Telnet, it’s essential to update and upgrade your system to ensure compatibility. Run the following commands in the terminal:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2. Installing Telnet on Ubuntu 22.04.

Before installing Telnet, it’s crucial to confirm its availability in the default repository of Ubuntu. You can do this by executing the following command:

apt show telnetd

This command will display the version of Telnet available in the repository.

To install Telnet on Ubuntu, run the following command:

sudo apt install telnetd

After successful installation, you can check the status of the Telnet service using the following command:

sudo systemctl status inetd

Step 3. Configure Firewall for Telnet.

To configure the Firewall for Telnet, enable the firewall using the ufw utility as follows:

sudo ufw enable

Since Telnet uses port 23 for communication, allow connections on this port using the command:

sudo ufw allow 23

Step 4. Using Telnet.

Once Telnet is installed and configured, you can use it to test TCP connections to a remote server on any port. To open a connection to a remote server, open a terminal window on your computer, and then type telnet IP/host port, where IP/host represents the IP address or hostname of the server, and port represents the TCP port number.

For example, to connect to example.com on port 80, type the following command:

telnet idroot.us 80

Despite its utility, Telnet has several risks, especially when used over public networks. It does not encrypt any of the data transmitted between the client and the server, making it vulnerable to data breaches, identity theft, malware infection, or unauthorized access to your system. It also relies on weak authentication methods and does not provide any guarantees of integrity and confidentiality for the data exchanged between the client and the server.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed Telnet. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the Telnet (Teletype Network) network protocol on the Ubuntu system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official Telnet website.