What is Reverse telnet?

Reverse telnet is a specialized application of telnet, where the server side of the connection reads and writes data to a computer terminal line , rather than providing a command shell to the host device. Typically, reverse telnet is implemented on an embedded device , which has an Ethernet network interface and serial port. Through the use of reverse telnet on such a device, IP-networked users can use telnet to access serially-connected devices.

In the past, reverse telnet was typically used to connect to modems or other external asynchronous devices. Today, reverse telnet is used mostly for connecting to the console port of a router, a switch or other device.