Technical Note: Enable Telnet Support in the Axis Camera Servers

The information in this article applies to:

• AXIS 2100/2120/2420 from F/W version 2.12

Summary

This article shows how to enable Telnet support in those Network Camera Servers this isn't enabled by default.

More information

For development it might be useful to connect to the Network Camera by Telnet. Depending on what product is used, this is either enabled by default and have authentication or can be enabled by editing the /etc/inittab. If the product require editing of the /etc/inittab, there will be no authentication for the Telnet connection and no password will be required for access.

You should enable this option for experimental use only. Never leave the Telnet access enabled when having the Network Camera installed on a public site. 

Example

Open an ftp session towards the Network Camera and type the command viewed in bold below:

C:\Axis >ftp <ip address of camera>
Connected to <ip address of camera>
220 Axis 2100 Network Camera 2.12 Feb 05 2001 ready.
User (<ip address of camera>:(none)): root
331 User name okay, need password.
Password: pass  (if not changed from default)
230 User logged in, proceed.
ftp> ascii
ftp> cd /etc
ftp> get inittab
200 Command okay.
150 Opening data connection.
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 1380 bytes received in 0,01Seconds 138,00Kbytes/sec.

At this stage, open the downloaded inittab file in an editor and find the following line:
#telnetd:3:respawn:/bin/telnetd
Remove the preceding ”#”:
telnetd:3:respawn:/bin/telnetd
Save the file

Go back to the ftp session and continue:
ftp> put inittab
200 Command okay.
150 Opening data connection.
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 1414 bytes sent in 0,00Seconds 1414000,00Kbytes/sec.
250 Command successful.
ftp> by
221 Goodbye.
Restart the camera and it will be possible to access with Telnet.

Axis does not take any responsibility for how these configuration changes may affect your system. If the modification fails or if you get other unexpected results, you may have to restore the factory default settings as described in the User’s Manual.