Daemons, testing via Telnet - Revision history

Jimbo: Reverted edits by 189.11.71.202 (Talk); changed back to last version by Jimbo

2009-05-22T13:48:33Z

Reverted edits by 189.11.71.202 (Talk); changed back to last version by Jimbo

189.11.71.202 at 10:02, 22 May 2009

2009-05-22T10:02:46Z

Jimbo at 19:05, 29 December 2008

2008-12-29T19:05:59Z

Show changes

Jimbo at 20:39, 27 December 2008

2008-12-27T20:39:48Z

Jimbo: testing SMTP AUTH

2008-12-27T20:39:03Z

testing SMTP AUTH

Jimbo at 15:16, 5 September 2007

2007-09-05T15:16:39Z

Jimbo: /* Testing an IMAP service via telnet */

2007-07-31T21:46:35Z

Testing an IMAP service via telnet

Jimbo at 17:21, 21 June 2007

2007-06-21T17:21:32Z

New page

The [[telnet]] client can be used to interact directly with service daemons which use human-readable communications protocols - such as [[IMAP]], [[SMTP]], [[POP3]], or [[HTTP]] - and make sure they're doing what they are supposed to do. This is an '''extremely''' valuable troubleshooting tool, as the experienced admin can see the exact communication from the server rather than rely on "friendly" but often inaccurate error messages given by client utilities intended for end users.

==Testing an SMTP service via telnet==

ph34r# '''telnet localhost 25'''
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.localdomain.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 ESMTP
'''HELO justtesting'''
250
'''MAIL FROM: me@telnettingin.com'''
250 ok
'''RCPT TO: postmaster@mail.getsdeliveredhere.net'''
250 ok
'''DATA'''
354 go ahead
'''To: postmaster@mail.getsdeliveredhere.net'''
'''From: telnetclient@mail.getsdeliveredhere.net'''
'''Subject: this is a test message'''
'''Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2007 11:11:40 -0400'''
'''Just testing SMTP functionality by telnetting in to port 25. I'll end this message now'''
'''by entering in a line with nothing but a period in it and hitting return.'''
'''.'''
250 ok 1103093638 qp 87827
'''QUIT'''
221
Connection closed by foreign host.

Okay - our [[SMTP]] server just accepted a telnet connection, responded like a mailserver, and accepted a nice little test email for delivery. (Any response other than a '''250 ok''' would represent an error of one sort or another.)

==Testing an IMAP service via telnet==

ph34r# '''telnet localhost 143'''
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.localdomain.
Escape character is '^]'.
* OK dovecot ready.
'''A LOGIN postmaster@mail.getsdeliveredhere.net thisismypassword'''
A OK logged in.
'''A SELECT inbox'''
* FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft)
* OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft \*)] Flags permitted.
* 1 EXISTS
* 1 RECENT
* OK [UIDVALIDITY 1103088195] UIDs valid
* OK [UIDNEXT 1] Predicted next UID
A OK [READ-WRITE] Select completed.
'''A LOGOUT'''
* BYE Logging out
A OK Logout completed.
Connection closed by foreign host.

Okay - we've just verified on a very direct level that the [[IMAP]] server we connected to answers incoming connections, successfully authenticates users, ''and'' successfully opens their inboxes - see the '''* 1 EXISTS''' and '''* 1 RECENT''' lines? That tells us that there is a single email in the inbox folder, and it hasn't been read yet.

==Testing a POP3 service via telnet==

ph34r# '''telnet localhost 110'''
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.localdomain.
Escape character is '^]'.
+OK dovecot ready.
'''USER postmaster@mail.getsdeliveredhere.net'''
+OK
'''PASS thisismypassword'''
+OK Logged in.
'''LIST'''
+OK 1 messages:
1 354
.
'''QUIT'''
+OK Logging out.
Connection closed by foreign host.

Confirmed - the [[POP3]] server answers connections, authenticates users, and can access its mail store - in this case, we can see that there is a message queued up and waiting for delivery. (Note that frequently you may NOT see any messages in the queue on a POP3 server, as most organizations using POP3 expect users to download their mail and delete it as soon as they have.)

==Testing an HTTP service via telnet==

ph34r# '''telnet testdomain.tld 80'''
Trying 192.168.0.252...
Connected to testdomain.tld.
Escape character is '^]'.
'''GET <nowiki>http://www.testdomain.tld/</nowiki>'''
<html><body><h1>It works!</h1></body></html>
Connection closed by foreign host.

In this case, we connected to a fictious webserver and asked it to serve us its home page. Note the response - that's a recent Apache "congratulations" page, meaning that the server hasn't really been configured properly (yet). (Usually, you'll get a MUCH longer response - typical [[HTML]] pages these days run 150K+ in size in code alone!)

Note that the '''GET''' command is in all caps - Apache is very particular about capitalization, and will not understand [[HTTP]] commands which are not in all caps!

What happens if we ask for a page that doesn't exist?

ph34r# '''telnet testdomain.tld 80'''
Trying 192.168.0.250...
Connected to testdomain.tld.
Escape character is '^]'.
'''GET <nowiki>http://testdomain.tld/doesntexist.html</nowiki>'''
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
<html><head>
<title>404 Not Found</title>
</head><body>
<h1>Not Found</h1>
<p>The requested URL /doesntexist.html was not found on this server.</p>
<hr>
<address>Apache/2.0.52 (FreeBSD) PHP/5.2.1 with Suhosin-Patch Server at testdomain.tld Port 80</address>
</body></html>
Connection closed by foreign host.

[[Category:Common Tasks]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:48, 22 May 2009
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	~~http://www.textolonotaald.com~~
	The [[telnet]] client can be used to interact directly with service daemons which use human-readable communications protocols - such as [[IMAP]], [[SMTP]], [[POP3]], or [[HTTP]] - and make sure they're doing what they are supposed to do. This is an '''extremely''' valuable troubleshooting tool, as the experienced admin can see the exact communication from the server rather than rely on "friendly" but often inaccurate error messages given by client utilities intended for end users.		The [[telnet]] client can be used to interact directly with service daemons which use human-readable communications protocols - such as [[IMAP]], [[SMTP]], [[POP3]], or [[HTTP]] - and make sure they're doing what they are supposed to do. This is an '''extremely''' valuable troubleshooting tool, as the experienced admin can see the exact communication from the server rather than rely on "friendly" but often inaccurate error messages given by client utilities intended for end users.

← Older revision		Revision as of 10:02, 22 May 2009
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	http://www.textolonotaald.com
	The [[telnet]] client can be used to interact directly with service daemons which use human-readable communications protocols - such as [[IMAP]], [[SMTP]], [[POP3]], or [[HTTP]] - and make sure they're doing what they are supposed to do. This is an '''extremely''' valuable troubleshooting tool, as the experienced admin can see the exact communication from the server rather than rely on "friendly" but often inaccurate error messages given by client utilities intended for end users.		The [[telnet]] client can be used to interact directly with service daemons which use human-readable communications protocols - such as [[IMAP]], [[SMTP]], [[POP3]], or [[HTTP]] - and make sure they're doing what they are supposed to do. This is an '''extremely''' valuable troubleshooting tool, as the experienced admin can see the exact communication from the server rather than rely on "friendly" but often inaccurate error messages given by client utilities intended for end users.

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:39, 27 December 2008
Line 29:		Line 29:

	Okay - our [[SMTP]] server just accepted a telnet connection, responded like a mailserver, and accepted a nice little test email for delivery. (Any response other than a '''250 ok''' would represent an error of one sort or another.)		Okay - our [[SMTP]] server just accepted a telnet connection, responded like a mailserver, and accepted a nice little test email for delivery. (Any response other than a '''250 ok''' would represent an error of one sort or another.)
		+
		+
		+

	==Testing SMTP AUTH via telnet==		==Testing SMTP AUTH via telnet==

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:39, 27 December 2008
Line 29:		Line 29:

	Okay - our [[SMTP]] server just accepted a telnet connection, responded like a mailserver, and accepted a nice little test email for delivery. (Any response other than a '''250 ok''' would represent an error of one sort or another.)		Okay - our [[SMTP]] server just accepted a telnet connection, responded like a mailserver, and accepted a nice little test email for delivery. (Any response other than a '''250 ok''' would represent an error of one sort or another.)
		+
		+	==Testing SMTP AUTH via telnet==
		+
		+	First, we need to generate base64-encoded strings to use with the PLAIN and LOGIN methods. '''IMPORTANT NOTE:''' you must be sure to escape any special characters (such as the '@' in an email address!) with backslashes when using Perl for base64 encoding!
		+
		+	First, we'll generate the string for the PLAIN method, in the form of [null]username[null]password:
		+
		+	# '''perl -MMIME::Base64 -e 'print encode_base64("\0user\@domain.com\0password");' '''
		+	AHVzZXJAZG9tYWluLmNvbQBwYXNzd29yZA==
		+
		+	OK, let's telnet in:
		+
		+	ph34r# '''telnet localhost 25'''
		+	Trying 127.0.0.1...
		+	Connected to localhost.privatedns.com.
		+	Escape character is '^]'.
		+	220 mail.server.local ESMTP
		+
		+	Great, we got a banner. OK, now let's tell it we want to use extended SMTP with the "ehlo" command:
		+
		+	'''ehlo test'''
		+	250-mail.server.local
		+	250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
		+	250-AUTH LOGIN PLAIN
		+	250-STARTTLS
		+	250-PIPELINING
		+	250 8BITMIME
		+
		+	Alright. Good. Notice that we support two AUTH methods: LOGIN, and PLAIN. Let's try PLAIN first, using the string we generated for it above:
		+
		+	'''AUTH PLAIN AHVzZXJAZG9tYWluLmNvbQBwYXNzd29yZA=='''
		+	235 ok, go ahead (#2.0.0)
		+	'''quit'''
		+	221 mail.server.local
		+	Connection closed by foreign host.
		+
		+	Excellent! If we want to try the LOGIN method, we'll need to generate separate base64-encoded strings for the username and the password:
		+
		+	ph34r# '''perl -MMIME::Base64 -e 'print encode_base64("user\@domain.com");' '''
		+	dXNlckBkb21haW4uY29t
		+	ph34r# '''perl -MMIME::Base64 -e 'print encode_base64("password");' '''
		+	cGFzc3dvcmQ=
		+
		+	Now we telnet back in, '''ehlo''' as before, and this time authenticate using the LOGIN method:
		+
		+	'''AUTH LOGIN'''
		+	334 VXNlcm5hbWU6
		+	'''dXNlckBkb21haW4uY29t'''
		+	334 UGFzc3dvcmQ6
		+	'''cGFzc3dvcmQ='''
		+	235 2.0.0 Authentication successful
		+	'''quit'''
		+	221 2.0.0 Bye
		+
		+	Again, excellent. (If you were curious, the 334 and 235 SMTP messages are also Base64 encoded, and decode to "Username:" and "Password:".)

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 Okay - our [[SMTP]] server just accepted a telnet connection, responded like a mailserver, and accepted a nice little test email for delivery.  (Any response other than a '''250 ok''' would represent an error of one sort or another.)
 ==Testing an IMAP service via telnet==
@@ Line 59: / Line 61: @@
 Okay - we've just verified on a very direct level that the [[IMAP]] server we connected to answers incoming connections, successfully authenticates users, ''and'' successfully opens their inboxes - see the '''* 1 EXISTS''' and '''* 1 RECENT''' lines?  That tells us that there is a single email in the inbox folder, and it hasn't been read yet.  (We got "inbox" from the results of our '''LIST "" "*"''' command, which asked for a complete list of folders on this account.)
 ==Testing a POP3 service via telnet==
@@ Line 80: / Line 84: @@
 Confirmed - the [[POP3]] server answers connections, authenticates users, and can access its mail store - in this case, we can see that there is a message queued up and waiting for delivery.  (Note that frequently you may NOT see any messages in the queue on a POP3 server, as most organizations using POP3 expect users to download their mail and delete it as soon as they have.)
 ==Testing an HTTP service via telnet==

@@ Line 39: / Line 39: @@
   '''A LOGIN postmaster@mail.getsdeliveredhere.net thisismypassword'''
   A OK logged in.
   '''A SELECT inbox'''
   * FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft)
@@ Line 52: / Line 58: @@
   Connection closed by foreign host.
-Okay - we've just verified on a very direct level that the [[IMAP]] server we connected to answers incoming connections, successfully authenticates users, ''and'' successfully opens their inboxes - see the '''* 1 EXISTS''' and '''* 1 RECENT''' lines?  That tells us that there is a single email in the inbox folder, and it hasn't been read yet.
+Okay - we've just verified on a very direct level that the [[IMAP]] server we connected to answers incoming connections, successfully authenticates users, ''and'' successfully opens their inboxes - see the '''* 1 EXISTS''' and '''* 1 RECENT''' lines?  That tells us that there is a single email in the inbox folder, and it hasn't been read yet.  (We got "inbox" from the results of our '''LIST "" "*"''' command, which asked for a complete list of folders on this account.)
 ==Testing a POP3 service via telnet==