A user can then communicate to another computer or send commands to a server from even the most basic computer.īefore Telnet, it was necessary to physically walk to servers to extract data from them. Telnet uses a command prompt to access another computer or server through the syntax telnet hostname port. It provides a two-way channel for text-based communication between two (or more) devices. Telnet, short for teletype network, is a networking protocol that allows a computer to access another one remotely. SMTP is used for sending emails, while POP and IMAP work to receive them. SMTP also plays a role in receiving email messages in conjunction with other TCP/IP protocols such as POP and IMAP.

SMTP does the work of taking your email and relaying it from your device to its destination. This protocol is one of several TCP/IP protocols that govern how your computer connects to the internet (and ultimately to other computers). Whenever you compose a message and click ‘send’ in an email client, your email service uses SMTP, or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, to direct your message to where it needs to go. In this article, we’ll provide a bit of background on what SMTP and Telnet are and how you can use Telnet to help validate the email functionality in your applications. A simple way to gauge your SMTP server’s responsiveness is to connect to it via an application protocol like Telnet directly from your local computer, a way of checking if your server responds to commands as expected. When testing for bugs or searching for the root of email-related issues, it’s wise to rule out the possibility of an SMTP server malfunction.

Secure telnet server