0
I have small IoT router that amongst other things can take input on a TCP port and output it from a serial port. I'm trying to use this feature to access the console on a network switch. It works perfectly, but some keys doesn't work as they are supposed to. Tab key seems to be interpreted by the network switch as ^I and every time I hit space I need to hit enter for Putty to actually send it. All the arrow keys send garbage as well.
Somehow I either need to change something in the router (entirely possible, the device runs some version of Linux) or I'll need to configure putty so that it sends special keys as combinations that the serial console on the switch can understand. How do I accomplish this?
UPDATE1: I've noticed a few things. I can send just about any special key, as long as I hit enter after it. For example, ^I is interpreted as Tab if I hit Enter afterwards, same with space.
1From a security point of view, is there any chance you could use SSH instead of telnet? And block telnet in the router's firewall. If your IoT router has telnet exposed to the Internet, there is a chance it has been rooted already. – Andrew Morton – 2016-10-26T18:51:44.153
My intent isn't to expose the TCP port for this feature to the Internet, but to access it through either OpenVPN or an APN. Aka. I'm not an idiot. :) – Stuggi – 2016-10-27T04:34:58.950
I was hoping that a side-effect might be that the keys would work properly through SSH. You didn't mention if you'd seen, e.g. PuTTY not sending Esc.
– Andrew Morton – 2016-10-27T07:59:56.203The problem is that the router accepts data on a TCP port and forwards them out through the serial interface with the settings provided, so there's no option to connect through for example SSH. – Stuggi – 2016-10-27T16:46:09.403