netcat on Suse Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux

There are two netcat application around.

Suse Linux uses netcat

root@suselinux10sp4:~ # cat /etc/*release
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (x86_64)
VERSION = 10
PATCHLEVEL = 4
LSB_VERSION=”core-2.0-noarch:core-3.0-noarch:core-2.0-x86_64:core-3.0-x86_64″

This is the package

root@suselinux10sp4:~ # rpm -qa | grep netcat
netcat-1.10-883.2

Test port this way

root@suselinux10sp4:~ # netcat -vz 172.16.4.198 21
solaris10 [172.16.4.198] 21 (ftp) open

This is the package information

root@suselinux10sp4:~ # rpm -qi netcat
Name : netcat Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version : 1.10 Vendor: SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, Nuernberg, Germany
Release : 883.2 Build Date: Fri Jun 16 11:04:19 2006
Install Date: Mon Jun 2 11:38:15 2008 Build Host: bassani.suse.de
Group : Productivity/Networking/Other Source RPM: netcat-1.10-883.2.src.rpm
Size : 130566 License: Other License(s), see package, distributable
Signature : DSA/SHA1, Fri Jun 16 11:07:49 2006, Key ID a84edae89c800aca
Packager : http://bugs.opensuse.org
Summary : A Simple But Powerful Network Tool
Description :
Netcat is a simple Unix utility that reads and writes data across
network connections using TCP or UDP protocols. It is designed to be a
reliable back-end tool that can be used directly or easily driven by
other programs and scripts. At the same time, it is a feature-rich
network debugging and exploration tool, because it can create almost
any kind of connection you may need and has several interesting
built-in capabilities.

Find the documentation in /usr/share/doc/packages/netcat/README.

Authors:
——–
hobbit@avian.org
Distribution: SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 (X86-64)

For Red Hat Linux

root@redhatenterpriselinux58:~ # cat /etc/*release
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.8 (Tikanga)

This is the package

root@redhatenterpriselinux58:~ # rpm -qf /usr/bin/nc
nc-1.84-10.fc6

This is the package information

root@redhatenterpriselinux58:~ # rpm -qi nc
Name : nc Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version : 1.84 Vendor: Red Hat, Inc.
Release : 10.fc6 Build Date: Sun 01 Oct 2006 06:51:17 PM BRT
Install Date: Sat 16 Jul 2011 06:57:04 AM BRT Build Host: hs20-bc1-7.build.redhat.com
Group : Applications/Internet Source RPM: nc-1.84-10.fc6.src.rpm
Size : 111823 License: GPL
Signature : DSA/SHA1, Thu 18 Jan 2007 02:10:50 PM BRST, Key ID 5326810137017186
Packager : Red Hat, Inc. <http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla&gt;
URL : http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/nc/
Summary : Reads and writes data across network connections using TCP or UDP.
Description :
The nc package contains Netcat (the program is actually nc), a simple
utility for reading and writing data across network connections, using
the TCP or UDP protocols. Netcat is intended to be a reliable back-end
tool which can be used directly or easily driven by other programs and
scripts. Netcat is also a feature-rich network debugging and
exploration tool, since it can create many different connections and
has many built-in capabilities.

You may want to install the netcat package if you are administering a
network and you’d like to use its debugging and network exploration
capabilities.

This is how to test a port

root@redhatenterpriselinux58:~ # nc -vz 172.16.4.198 21
Connection to 172.16.4.198 21 port [tcp/ftp] succeeded!

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