check a plaintext web server using telnet

introduction

This procedure uses the telnet command. Telnet is an application that can speak the telnet protocol, but when I use it to talk to a web server it sends raw data back and forth.

This procedure is only good for plaintext web browsers. If you want a procedure that removes some of the typing, check a plaintext web server using wget. If you want to test a secure web server (one that uses the SSL protocol) then check the web server using OpenSSL.

check from the web server host

If this test is successful, it proves that

• the web server is running,
• it is using the right IP address
• the page can be given to clients (ie. it exists, it is in the right place and has the correct permissions).

1. Open a CLI on the web server host.
2. Find the right web server name. Try looking for the name in the hosts file.

   issalarg@ics01:>more /etc/hosts
   ...
   # webservers
   192.168.5.112  ics01-qfe0-v3        # www.dom01.com
   192.168.5.113  ics01-qfe1-v3        # www.dom02.com
   192.168.5.114  ics01-qfe2-v3        # www.dom03.com
   ...
   

3. Use telnet to connect to the web server. This connection only stays open for a minute so don't go to the toilet before typing the next few commands. You can use the DNS name, but I tend to use the IP address.

   issalarg@ics01:>telnet 192.168.5.112 80
   Trying 192.168.5.112...
   Connected to 192.168.5.112.
   Escape character is '^]'.
   
   

4. Request the test page. Every web server has one.

   GET /testpage.html HTTP/1.0
   
   HTTP/1.1 200 OK
   Server: Netscape-Enterprise/6.0
   Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 16:47:33 GMT
   Content-length: 52
   Content-type: text/html
   Last-modified: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 10:59:03 GMT
   Accept-ranges: bytes
   Connection: close
   
   www.dom02.com
   <br>
   Test page for IWE03
   <hr>
   Connection closed by foreign host.
   issalarg@ics01:>
   

5. Close the CLI.