Enabling Telnet on vsphere

For some reason you might need to enable telnet on vsphere (and yes I know it's not secure).

To do so, you first need to open the port 23 in the security profile in configuration in the vsphere client.

Then you need to log on with ssh and do the following:

esxcfg-firewall -o 23,tcp,in,"Telnet server"

chkconfig krb5-telnet on


Try to telnet in with a non-root account and you should be in.

I had to enable telnet because of our problems with a wan link,
and we couldn't ssh from the other end's router, hence telnet.

I STRONGLY insist on the fact that telnet is NOT secure and will send passwords in clear and should be left for very specific needs. In doubt, always use ssh over telnet.