System information

Introduction 23

Telnet on the OnBoard

By default, Telnet is configured as follows:

• A Telnet server is present but not enabled, and, by default, users cannot

use the Telnet service to connect to the OnBoard or through the OnBoard

to connected devices.

• The OnBoard uses an active Telnet client to connect to devices on behalf

of authorized users.

The following table shows the tasks for changing the default telnet

configuration with links to where the tasks are documented.

Caution! Telnet is not encrypted, so security can only be guaranteed if the

service processors are on a private network. If the service processors must be

on the public network for a pressing reason, then Telnet should be replaced

with SSH or bidilink.

Configuring Telnet for Users

The OnBoard uses Telnet when connecting to service processors except when

connecting to IPMI service processors, when it uses ipmitool commands.

Telnet is used in all other cases because all other types of devices and service

processors do support Telnet, but some do not support SSH.

The telnet service is not supported by any of the default security profiles

and by default, telnetd is turned off. The OnBoard-specific device

management commands cannot be passed as parameters to telnet on the

Table 1-12: Tasks for Changing the Default telnet Configuration

Change to Default Telnet Configuration Where Documented

Enable the telnetd service for use when connecting to the

OnBoard or when connecting through the OnBoard to

devices

“Configuring Telnet for Users” on

page 23

Replace the

telnet client with SSH or Bibilink as the

connection method used by the system to use when creating

connections to devices on behalf of the authorized user from

the OnBoard

“Configuring SSH or Bidilink

Instead of Telnet for Device

Connections” on page 72.