Test telnet communication on remote computer using VB.net? - vb.net

Question

I have a central server and I need to write a bit of vb.net which will see if I can telnet to a specified server on a specified port.
Is there anyway this can be done in VB.net? I thought about sending command prompts to the remote server to execute telnet, then output the logs of netsh and read those and send the information back to the central server for review.
Its a very messy way of doing it, so I was just wondering if there was an easier way

Answer 1

You should just create a TcpClient object with the IP address of the target server and port (typically 23 for telnet). Then call Connect!
See here for more info:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.net.sockets.tcpclient.aspx
Something like this (may not be exact):
Try
Dim telnetServerIp As String = "192.168.100.55"
Dim telnetPort As Integer = 23
Dim client As New TcpClient(telnetServerIp, telnetPort)
MessageBox.Show("Server is reachable")
Catch ex As Exception
MessageBox.Show("Could not reach server")
End Try
Be advised this is sample code. You'd want to clean up (close/dispose) the connection (TcpClient) object when you were done, etc. But it should get you started.

Answer 2

You should try something to implement this. there are lots help available for Telnet communication using .net.
Take idea from these specified links and implement in vb.net..
How can I open a telnet connection and run a few commands in C#
Telnet connection using .net
You can use a System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient object instead of a
socket object, which already has the socket parameters configured to
use ProtocolType.Tcp
1.Create a new TcpClient object, which takes a server name and a port (no IPEndPoint necessary, nice).
2.Pull a NetworkStream out of the TcpClient by calling GetStream()
3.Convert your message into bytes using Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(string)
4.Now you can send and receive data using the stream.Write and stream.Read methods, respectively. The stream.Read method returns the number of bytes written to your receiving array, by the way.
5.Put the data back into human-readable format using Encoding.ASCII.GetString(byte array).
6.Clean up your mess before the network admins get mad by calling stream.Close() and client.Close().
Ref:C# 2.0* and Telnet - Not As Painful As It Sounds
// Create a TcpClient.
// Note, for this client to work you need to have a TcpServer
// connected to the same address as specified by the server, port
// combination.
Int32 port = 13000;
TcpClient client = new TcpClient(server, port);
// Translate the passed message into ASCII and store it as a Byte array.
Byte[] data = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(message);
// Get a client stream for reading and writing.
// Stream stream = client.GetStream();
NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();
// Send the message to the connected TcpServer.
stream.Write(data, 0, data.Length);
Console.WriteLine("Sent: {0}", message);

Answer 3

I made this for a project at work.
I think it's a complete general solution for most people's needs
However, This is my first real .net project so feel free to critique it.
Modeled on http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/63201/TelnetSocket
Imports System.Threading
Imports System.IO
Imports System.IO.Pipes
Public Class TelnetClient
Private Server As String
Private NetWorkProtocolClient As System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient
Private ServerStream As System.Net.Sockets.NetworkStream
Private DoReader As Boolean
Private ReaderThread As Thread
Private OutputPipe As AnonymousPipeServerStream
Private WaitForString As String
Private WaitForStringEvent As New AutoResetEvent(False)
ReadOnly Property IsConnected() As Boolean
Get
Return (Not (IsNothing(NetWorkProtocolClient)) AndAlso (NetWorkProtocolClient.Connected))
End Get
End Property
ReadOnly Property ConnectedTo() As String
Get
If (Not (IsNothing(NetWorkProtocolClient)) AndAlso (NetWorkProtocolClient.Connected)) Then
Return NetWorkProtocolClient.Client.RemoteEndPoint.ToString()
Else
Return "Nothing"
End If
End Get
End Property
'Set the Server string to connect to.
Public Sub SetServer(ByVal new_server As String)
'double check this later
Server = new_server
End Sub
'Connects if possilbe. If already conneced to some thing it Disconnects from old Telnet and connects to new Telnet.
Public Sub Connect()
Try
If (Not (IsNothing(NetWorkProtocolClient))) AndAlso NetWorkProtocolClient.Connected Then
Disconnect()
End If
If Not IsNothing(Server) Then
NetWorkProtocolClient = New System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient(Server, 23)
If NetWorkProtocolClient.Connected Then
'clear on a new client
WaitForString = Nothing
WaitForStringEvent.Reset()
NetWorkProtocolClient.NoDelay = True
ServerStream = NetWorkProtocolClient.GetStream()
ServerStream.ReadTimeout = 1000
DoReader = True
ReaderThread = New Thread(AddressOf ReaderTask)
ReaderThread.IsBackground = True
ReaderThread.Priority = ThreadPriority.AboveNormal
ReaderThread.Start()
End If
End If
Catch ex As System.Net.Sockets.SocketException
Console.WriteLine("SocketException Connect: {0}", ex)
End Try
End Sub
'Disconnects if connected, otherwise does nothing.
Public Sub Disconnect()
Try
If ReaderThread.IsAlive Then
DoReader = False
ReaderThread.Join(1000)
End If
If (Not (IsNothing(NetWorkProtocolClient))) Then
ServerStream.Close()
NetWorkProtocolClient.Close()
End If
Catch ex As System.Net.Sockets.SocketException
Console.WriteLine("SocketException Disconnect: {0}", ex)
End Try
End Sub
'Returns true if found before timeout milliseconds. Use -1 to have infinite wait time.
'Returns false if timeout occured.
Public Function WaitFor(ByVal command As String, ByVal timeout As Integer) As Boolean
WaitForString = New String(command)
WaitForStringEvent.Reset()
Dim was_signaled As Boolean = False
'Block until a the right value from reader or user defined timeout
was_signaled = WaitForStringEvent.WaitOne(timeout)
WaitForString = Nothing
Return was_signaled
End Function
Public Sub Write(ByVal command As String)
Try
If (Not (IsNothing(NetWorkProtocolClient))) Then
If NetWorkProtocolClient.Connected Then
'Write the value to the Stream
Dim bytes() As Byte = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(command)
SyncLock ServerStream
ServerStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)
End SyncLock
End If
End If
Catch ex As System.Net.Sockets.SocketException
Console.WriteLine("SocketException Write: {0}", ex)
End Try
End Sub
'appends CrLf for the caller
Public Sub WriteLine(ByVal command As String)
Try
If (Not (IsNothing(NetWorkProtocolClient))) Then
If NetWorkProtocolClient.Connected Then
'Write the value to the Stream
Dim bytes() As Byte = System.Text.Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(command & vbCrLf)
SyncLock ServerStream
ServerStream.Write(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)
End SyncLock
End If
End If
Catch ex As System.Net.Sockets.SocketException
Console.WriteLine("SocketException Write: {0}", ex)
End Try
End Sub
'Get a pipe to read output. Note: anything written by WriteLine may be echoed back if the other Telnet offers to do it.
Public Function GetPipeHandle() As String
If Not IsNothing(ReaderThread) AndAlso ReaderThread.IsAlive AndAlso Not IsNothing(OutputPipe) Then
Return OutputPipe.GetClientHandleAsString
Else
Return Nothing
End If
End Function
'Task that watches the tcp stream, passes info to the negotiation function and signals the WaitFor task.
Private Sub ReaderTask()
Try
OutputPipe = New AnonymousPipeServerStream(PipeDirection.Out)
Dim prevData As New String("")
While (DoReader)
If (Not (IsNothing(NetWorkProtocolClient))) Then
If ServerStream.DataAvailable Then
'Grab Data
Dim data As [Byte]() = New [Byte](NetWorkProtocolClient.ReceiveBufferSize) {}
Dim bytes As Integer = ServerStream.Read(data, 0, data.Length)
'Negotiate anything that came in
bytes = Negotiate(data, bytes)
If (bytes > 0) Then
'append previous to the search sting incase messages were fragmented
Dim s As New String(prevData & System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetChars(data))
'If Pipe is connected send it remaining real data
If OutputPipe.IsConnected Then
OutputPipe.Write(data, 0, bytes)
End If
'Check remaining against WaitForString
If Not IsNothing(WaitForString) Then
If s.Contains(WaitForString) Then
WaitForStringEvent.Set()
'clear prevData buffer because the WaitForString was found
prevData = New String("")
Else
'Nothing found make the current string part of the next string.
prevData = New String(s)
End If
Else
prevData = New String("")
End If
End If
Else
Thread.Sleep(100)
End If
End If
End While
OutputPipe.Close()
OutputPipe.Dispose()
Catch ex As System.IO.IOException
Console.WriteLine("IO Error: {0}", ex)
Catch ex As System.Net.Sockets.SocketException
Console.WriteLine("SocketException Reader: {0}", ex)
End Try
End Sub
'Shamelessly adapted from http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/63201/TelnetSocket
'The basic algorithm used here is:
' Iterate across the incoming bytes
' Assume that an IAC (byte 255) is the first of a two- or three-byte Telnet command and handle it:
' If two IACs are together, they represent one data byte 255
' Ignore the Go-Ahead command
' Respond WONT to all DOs and DONTs
' Respond DONT to all WONTs
' Respond DO to WILL ECHO and WILL SUPPRESS GO-AHEAD
' Respond DONT to all other WILLs
' Any other bytes are data; ignore nulls, and shift the rest as necessary
' Return the number of bytes that remain after removing the Telnet command and ignoring nulls
Private Function Negotiate(ByVal data As Byte(), ByVal length As Int32) As Int32
Dim index As Int32 = 0
Dim remaining As Int32 = 0
While (index < length)
If (data(index) = TelnetBytes.IAC) Then
Try
Select Case data(index + 1)
Case TelnetBytes.IAC
data(remaining) = data(index)
remaining += 1
index += 2
Case TelnetBytes.GA
index += 2
Case TelnetBytes.WDO
data(index + 1) = TelnetBytes.WONT
SyncLock ServerStream
ServerStream.Write(data, index, 3)
End SyncLock
index += 3
Case TelnetBytes.DONT
data(index + 1) = TelnetBytes.WONT
SyncLock ServerStream
ServerStream.Write(data, index, 3)
End SyncLock
index += 3
Case TelnetBytes.WONT
data(index + 1) = TelnetBytes.DONT
SyncLock ServerStream
ServerStream.Write(data, index, 3)
End SyncLock
index += 3
Case TelnetBytes.WILL
Dim action As Byte = TelnetBytes.DONT
Select Case data(index + 2)
Case TelnetBytes.ECHO
action = TelnetBytes.WDO
Case TelnetBytes.SUPP
action = TelnetBytes.WDO
End Select
data(index + 1) = action
SyncLock ServerStream
ServerStream.Write(data, index, 3)
End SyncLock
index += 3
End Select
Catch ex As System.IndexOutOfRangeException
index = length
End Try
Else
If (data(index) <> 0) Then
data(remaining) = data(index)
remaining += 1
End If
index += 1
End If
End While
Return remaining
End Function
Private Structure TelnetBytes
'Commands
Public Const GA As Byte = 249
Public Const WILL As Byte = 251
Public Const WONT As Byte = 252
Public Const WDO As Byte = 253 'Actually just DO but is protected word in vb.net
Public Const DONT As Byte = 254
Public Const IAC As Byte = 255
'Options
Public Const ECHO As Byte = 1
Public Const SUPP As Byte = 3
End Structure
End Class