% Remote Network Log In Between Computers % Ian! D. Allen -- -- [www.idallen.com] % Winter 2013 - January to April 2013 - Updated 2017-09-06 12:58 EDT - [Course Home Page] - [Course Outline] - [All Weeks] - [Plain Text] Remote Network Log In Between Computers ======================================= This file will explain how to connect between computers over a computer network using a remote login so that you can administer a machine remotely. You might also connect between computers to transfer files, but that isn't the focus of this document; see [File Transfer] for that. Most systems administration is done using remote login to a remote computer through a network. Rarely are you actually sitting at the console/keyboard of the machine you are managing. Usually, you connect to the machine remotely over the network, using its DNS Name (e.g. `cst8207.idallen.ca`) or, if the machine doesn't have a DNS name, its IP Address (e.g. `205.211.77.51`). Remote connection is done from your local machine to the remote machine using some form of terminal program or remote login program. (Transferring files is done using a separate [File Transfer] program.) **Definitions:** - **Your Machine**: The *local* machine you are sitting in front of. - **The Managed Machine**: The *remote* machine on the network. ![Remote Login using SSH and PuTTY] Choosing a Remote Login Program =============================== Your first task is to select a remote login program that will let the machine you are sitting in front of (the *local* machine) make a secure network connection with the machine you are managing (the *remote* machine). **The SSH Protocol:** To manage Unix/Linux servers, the connection will use the `SSH` text-based communication protocol. This protocol is used to create an encrypted, text command line connection (no graphics) between your keyboard and screen and the remote machine. The software you choose to make a secure `SSH` remote login connection depends on what operating system is running on your *local* machine: - On **Microsoft Windows** use the `PuTTY` program. This is free software that you must download and install on your Windows system. (You may also choose to use any other program that supports the `SSH` protocol, but you're on your own if it doesn't work.) - On **Apple Macintosh** use the built-in `Terminal` application and the built-in command-line `ssh` program inside the `Terminal`. - On **Unix or Linux or BSD** use any terminal application and the built-in command-line `ssh` program inside that terminal. (Or, run `ssh` directly on the system console.) If you are running **Microsoft Windows**, download and install the above software to be able to do Remote Login. You will also need to configure the terminal program and save your settings, as described in [Course Linux Server]. Local and Remote ================ When you run your Remote Login program and use it to connect to a remote machine, you create a connection between your *local* keyboard and screen and the *remote* machine. In this connection, the characters that you type on the *local* keyboard are sent over the network to the *remote* machine, as if you were sitting in front of that *remote* machine and typing directly on its own keyboard. The text produced by the remote machine in response to your typing is also brought back over the network to appear on your *local* screen. Anything you type into this Remote Login program goes to the remote machine, and the results come back onto your local screen. If in the Remote Login program you issue a command to create or delete a file, you create or delete the file on the *remote* machine, not the *local* machine. If in the Remote Login program you issue a command to copy a file, you make the copy on the *remote* machine, not the *local* machine. Nothing you type inside the Remote Login program normally affects the files on your *local* machine. All the typing goes to the *remote* machine and changes the files there. It is as if you were sitting in front of that *remote* machine and typing directly on its own keyboard. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- **To Be Continued.** -- | Ian! D. Allen, BA, MMath - idallen@idallen.ca - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | Home Page: http://idallen.com/ Contact Improv: http://contactimprov.ca/ | College professor (Free/Libre GNU+Linux) at: http://teaching.idallen.com/ | Defend digital freedom: http://eff.org/ and have fun: http://fools.ca/ [Plain Text] - plain text version of this page in [Pandoc Markdown] format [www.idallen.com]: http://www.idallen.com/ [Course Home Page]: .. [Course Outline]: course_outline.pdf [All Weeks]: indexcgi.cgi [Plain Text]: 110_remote_login.txt [File Transfer]: 015_file_transfer.html [Remote Login using SSH and PuTTY]: remote_login.png "Remote Login using SSH and PuTTY - photo by Liam Griffin" [Course Linux Server]: 070_course_linux_server.html [Pandoc Markdown]: http://johnmacfarlane.net/pandoc/