Telnet is a utility or a protocol that allows a user to connect to another computer on the TCP/IP network such as internet. Through the Telnet utility a network administrator or a user can access another computer. Windows XP Professional and the Windows Server 2003 have the built-in Telnet client and server which allow you to connect to the remote computer and server.
After connecting to the remote server you can enter the commands on the command prompt through the Telnet console. In this way you can communicate with the remote server as you are working on it locally.
It enables you to communicate with the web servers and the remote computers. To start a telnet session you need to have a valid user id and password. A telnet request looks like the following.
Telnet hostname
Telnet onlinelibrary.com
Telnet provides the following features.
- It facilitates the administration of the remote servers.
- Multiple users can logged in simultaneously.
- Remote printing support.
- Console application support.
- Active directory support.
- Session logging.
- Supports multiple sessions.
- Web server management
- Remote computer troubleshooting.
- Access files remotely.
- Text based games can be accessed and played.
Telnet client and server are ideal in the situations where there are minimal resources like memory, processor and bandwidth in the client or host computer. Telnet is still very popular in the enterprise networks to access the server’s resources.