starting the softmodem with the telnet server
March 27, 2026 ยท View on GitHub
By default the embedded telnet server, which is implemented in a shared library, is not built. It can be built after compiling the softmodem executable using the build_oai script:
cd \<oai repository\>/openairinterface5g
source oaienv
cd cmake_targets
./build_oai --build-lib telnetsrv
This will create the libtelnetsrv.so and libtelnetsrv_<app> file in the cmake_targets/ran_build/build subdirectory of the oai repository. <app> can be "enb", "gnb", "4GUE", "5GUE", "ci" or "ciUE" each library containing functions specific to a given executable:
| Library Name | Description |
|---|---|
libtelnetsrv.so | General telnet server library |
libtelnetsrv_enb | eNodeB specific functions |
libtelnetsrv_gnb | gNodeB specific functions |
libtelnetsrv_4GUE | 4G NR UE specific functions |
libtelnetsrv_5GUE | 5G NR UE specific functions |
libtelnetsrv_ci | gNB specific CI functions |
libtelnetsrv_ciUE | UE specific CI functions |
When starting the softmodem, you must specify the --telnetsrv option to load and start the telnet server. The telnet server is loaded via the oai shared library loader.
using the Command Line Interface
By default the telnet server listen on all the ip addresses configured on the system and on port 9090. This behavior can be changed using the listenaddr and listenport parameters.
The telnet server includes a basic help, listing available commands and some commands also provide a specific detailed help sub-command.
Below are examples of telnet sessions:
- getting help
- using the history
- using the get and set commands
- using the loop command
- loader command
- log command
- measur command
telnet server parameters
The telnet server is using the oai configuration module. Telnet parameters must be specified in the telnetsrv section. Some parameters can be modified via the telnet telnet server command, as specified in the last column of the following table.
| name | type | default | description | dynamic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
listenaddr | ipV4 address, ascii format | "0.0.0.0" | local address the server is listening on | N |
listenport | integer | 9090 | port number the server is listening on | N |
listenstdin | integer (bool) | 0 | enable input from stdin via additional thread | N |
policy | integer | 0 | scheduling priority for telnet (0-99) | N |
loopcount | integer | 10 | number of iterations for the loop command | Y |
loopdelay | integer | 5000 | delay (in ms) between 2 loop command iterations | Y |
histfile | string | "oaitelnet.history" | file used for command history persistency | Y |
histsize | integer | 50 | maximum number of commands saved in the history | Y |
logfile | string | oaisoftmodem.log | output file to which to redirect | |
phypbsize | integer | 65000 | string buffer size to dump phy stats | Y |
staticmod | string | (empty) | additional internally defined telnet modules (--telnetsrv.staticmod X, comma-separated) to load on startup. The modules should define a function add_X_cmds() in which the module can register telnet commands | N |
shrmod | string | (empty) | additional shared object files telnetsrv_X.so (--telnetsrv.shrmod X, comma-separated) to load on startup. The shared object(s) should define a function add_X_cmds() in which the shared object can register telnet commands | N |