UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi -

I am fairly new with unix. I have a unix box, installed with Solaris 2.8. I can get the box hooked up to the internet, not using DHCP but static IP address behind a Linksys firewall. However, I cannot telnet to the unix box or from within the unix box. If I telnet from a windows platform box to the unix box or do telnet localhost within the unix box, I get a connection actively refused error message. I checked the /etc/services and /etc/hosts and they both have telnet services defined in them. What am I missing? Can anyone please help me? Thanks so much.

Is this a SUN hardware system or is it a p.c.? (Makes a small difference in if you are running Solaris 8 (SUN) or Solaris 8 (X86))

You can look at /etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow to insure those two files are not blocking access (Do you get a login prompt when you telnet?)

Also post the exact error message you receive when you try to telnet. Once you can telnet from the UNIX system to itself, you still may have problems getting from the Windows system to UNIX as there may be a rule in the firewall blocking telnet. Check to see if other services are working (ftp, ssh, ...) and post results.

Exact error message: "Connection actively refused by port"

Hardware: Sun Sparc

Telnet session: Did not get any prompts, got the error message straight away.

Thanks, RTM, I will check on the /etc/hosts.deny and /etc/hosts.allow file. That's one place I think I did not check.

Also check /etc/inetd.conf - look for telnet - it may be commented out. Vi the file and uncomment it and then do a kill -HUP on the inetd process (find it with the ps -ef|grep inetd command)

Example:
# ps -ef|grep inetd
root 177 1 0 Apr 28 ? 0:03 /usr/sbin/inetd -s
root 17304 17302 0 17:06:56 pts/2 0:00 grep inetd
# kill -HUP 177
#

This will make inetd re-read it's configuration file (/etc/inetd.conf). Also, telnet is sometimes turned off as company policy so if you need to check with your boss.

Sunsolve is a good place to start looking when you have a problem - found your error as follows:

RTM -

Thanks for the tips, I will give those a try. It's a loaner box from a buddy, my company is a Windows body shop...

Are you logging in as root? Take a look at /etc/default/login.

I checked /etc/inetd.conf and telnet is not commented out. I don't have a /etc/hosts.allow or /etc/hosts.deny file. Is that a problem? I am logged in as root. Checked the /etc/default/login...what should I be looking for?

Thanks.