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CHARGEN
The Character Generator Protocol (CHARGEN) is a simple network service designed primarily for testing, debugging, and measurement of network performance. When connected, a server running the CHARGEN protocol continuously generates a stream of arbitrary characters until the client closes the connection. Initially developed for diagnostic purposes, this protocol is rarely used in modern systems but still exists on many legacy devices and installations..
The Character Generator Protocol (CHARGEN), specified in RFC 864, is a straightforward protocol that generates a continuous stream of characters upon request. It operates over both TCP and UDP on port 19, making it versatile but also extremely simplistic in design. When a client connects via TCP, the CHARGEN server sends a steady sequence of printable ASCII characters until the connection is terminated. Over UDP, it responds to incoming datagrams with a packet of characters.
Originally, CHARGEN was intended for network diagnostics, throughput measurement, and load testing. Developers and network administrators used it to generate traffic to evaluate network performance or validate configurations. Despite its usefulness in early networking environments, it lacks any form of authentication, access control, or encryption.
Today, CHARGEN is largely obsolete and seldom used in production networks. Its simplicity and the continuous data stream it provides have made it a legacy protocol, maintained primarily for backward compatibility or legacy device support. Modern network tools have surpassed CHARGEN's capabilities with more precise and configurable alternatives.