A simple chat server - client

I was reading this article about how Skype and other VOIP services punch a hole through firewalls and in the second page I was introduced to the netcat command, which can do a lot, but today I just thought I'd talk about using it as a instant chat program.

You'll need two machines, server and client and an open firewall on the port you decide to use.

On server type:

nc -l 10333

On client type:

nc server 10333

Syntax may vary depending on distro, the above works on RHEL.

Anything that is typed in either server or client will be sent to the other party, thus providing you with a primitive instant chat.

Enjoy