What is Telnet?

What is telnet?

Telnet is a protocol that allows you to connect to remote computers (called hosts) over a TCP/IP network (such as the Internet). There is a telnet server on the remote host, which the telnet client negotiates with to establish a connection. Once connected, the client becomes a virtual terminal, and allows you to interface with the host computer from your computer. In most cases, you’ll be asked to log into the remote system. This usually requires an account on that host. Occasionally you can log in as guest or public without having an account.

There are telnet clients available for all major operating systems.

Unix and VMS typically have telnet clients built in. To use them, at the prompt, enter:

  telnet host

Replace host with the name of the remote computer you wish to connect to.