| If you or your users need command-line access to your server, consider using the secure shell, or ssh. This program allows you to transfer your user name and password securely across a network, so you can avoid anyone who might be snooping on the network ready to steal your password. Ssh supplies the user with “strong authentication and secure communications over an insecure network” while working essentially the same as a remote telnet session (Anonymous 290-1). While the ssh client comes standard on Red Hat installations, the ssh daemon must be installed on the server, and workstations if you plan to connect to your workstations remotely. The ssh daemon comes on the Red Hat source CD, or it can be downloaded from various sites, including ftp://updates.redhat.com/. For this example, I’ll assume you have the source CD. Put the CD into the drive, and from the command line type: mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
cd /mnt/cdrom/RedHat/RPMS
rpm –Uvh openssh-server-2.1.1p4-1.i386.rpm Once the software is installed, you can start the daemon by giving this command: /etc/rc.d/init.d/sshd start Now, using a remote command line session, you should be able to connect to your server securely by typing: ssh –l login_name server_name Replace “login_name” with your login, and “server_name” with the hostname of your server. It takes a couple of seconds longer than telnet, but you then are presented with a password prompt. You can login as usual, but now with the knowledge that your session is secure. |