Telnet Protocol Specification
RFC 854, “Telnet Protocol Specification”, is an Internet Standard document published in May 1983 by J. Postel, J.K. Reynolds. It obsoletes RFC 764. It has since been updated by RFC 5198. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.
Abstract
This is the specification of the Telnet protocol used for remote terminal access in the ARPA Internet. The purpose of the TELNET Protocol is to provide a fairly general, bi-directional, eight-bit byte oriented communications facility. Its primary goal is to allow a standard method of interfacing terminal devices and terminal-oriented processes to each other. It is envisioned that the protocol may also be used for terminal-terminal communication ("linking") and process-process communication (distributed computation). This RFC specifies a standard for the ARPA Internet community. Hosts on the ARPA Internet are expected to adopt and implement this standard. Obsoletes NIC 18639.
What “Internet Standard” means
A mature, widely-implemented specification that has completed the full IETF standards process — the highest maturity level on the standards track.
The canonical text of RFC 854 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.
- RFC 855 Telnet Option Specifications
- RFC 852 ARPANET short blocking feature
- RFC 856 Telnet Binary Transmission
- RFC 851 ARPANET 1822L Host Access Protocol
- RFC 857 Telnet Echo Option
- RFC 850 Standard for interchange of USENET messages
- RFC 858 Telnet Suppress Go Ahead Option
- RFC 849 Suggestions for improved host table distribution