[lug] telnet problems

[Jeff Howell]

> Andrew Reberry wrote:
> 
> Hello all.  I've got a strange problem I cant even start to figure out...
> 
> After installing a new distro (RedHat 6.2) I have found that I am unable to
> telnet into it.  I noticed that 'inetd' was not installed so I then installed
> it. ('rpm -i inetd-0.16-4.i386.rpm')  However, after installing 'inetd' I am
> still having the same problem.  When I try to telnet into the machine I get
> the error:
> 
> 'Connection closed by foreign host'
> 
> This error comes up when I try to telnet in from the local network
> (192.168.2.*) or from localhost itself (127.0.0.1).  So I decided to check
> /etc/hosts.allow and hosts.deny.  I specify for all machines on the
> 192.168.2.* network and 127.0.0.1 to have permission to access the RedHat
> machine, and I made sure no computers are being denied access to the machine.
> 
> I have checked hosts.allow and hosts.deny.  I have installed inetd.  I have
> made sure that the following line exists in /etc/inetd.conf and is not
> commented out:
> 
> 'telnet  stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/sbin/tcpd  in.telnetd'
> 
> I have even changed the string to specify the exact path of in.telnetd, which
> is in my /usr/sbin/ folder.  The line now reads:
> 
> 'telnet  stream  tcp     nowait  root    /usr/sbin/tcpd
> /usr/sbin/in.telnetd'
> 
> I have made sure I am not root when I telnet to the localhost.  When I try to
> telnet over the network into the machine I get the same problems.  I know it
> is not the network because I have samba working correctly, and I can ping all
> computers without any problems.  (plus I can't even telnet from localhost)
> 
> When I do a 'ps aux | grep inetd' I show inetd running on root just fine.  I
> have tried 'killall -HUP inetd' and that does me no good.  I have even
> checked the log files after trying to telnet and this is providing me with no
> output.
> 
> Any ideas would be appreciated.
> 
> Andrew Reberry
> reberrya at colorado.edu

Few questions, are you using NIS?
Is the path to the shell binary for your shell correct in the /etc/passwd file
and /etc/shells?

-- 
 Jeff Howell
 EDS Unix Support