The Basics - Connecting with SSH

What is SSH?

SSH is a terminal program that allows you to work on a machine other than your own that utilizes encryption to ensure that your password and all data sent and received during your session are kept safe.

How do I get an SSH program?

There are plenty of good SSH programs out there and some of them free.

Mac OS X, Linux, and other UNIX-like operating systems come with ssh built in. Simply open a terminal window and follow the instructions below

For Windows, we recommend:

PuTTY (Free)
SecureCRT

Still looking? Try this page:

http://www.employees.org/~satch/ssh/faq/ssh-faq-2.html#ss2.2

How do I connect to the server via SSH using a terminal program?

Mac OS X, Linux, and other UNIX-like operating systems provide ssh access through their command line interface. To use ssh on these machines, you must first open a terminal program such as Terminal, Gnome Terminal, konsole, or xterm. You can then ssh to your pair Networks hosting account by using this command:

ssh username@username.pairserver.com

Replace both instances of "username" above with your pair Networks Web hosting account username. Your username and Web hosting server name can be found in your pair Networks Welcome Message and in the ACC.

When prompted for your password, enter your pair Networks Web hosting account password.

How do I use my graphical SSH client to connect to the server?

You'll first need to know the name of the server to connect to. Your Web hosting server name can be found in your pair Networks Welcome Message and in the ACC.

Once you open your SSH program, you should find a menu option like "Connect", "Open Connection," or something similar. Select that and type in your server name. If it asks for a terminal type, use "VT100."

Next, you'll be prompted for your username and password. Once you correctly entered them, you'll be logged into the system.

What commands can I use?

Now that you are logged on, you can use any of the UNIX commands to do what you need to do. If you are unfamiliar with UNIX, try visiting this UNIX Beginners Guide.