September 15, 2004

How to SSH

by Brian Turner

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An introduction to using SSH

Here’s something for reference purposes - a quick SSH start-up guide.

1. Get SSH client

Firstly, you’ll need a SSH client. One of the simplest Freeware SSH client applications out there is PuTTY, which can be downloaded from here:

Download PuTTY SSH client

Simply download the putty.exe file to an appropriate folder or to desktop.

2. Accessing SSH

Simply double click the putty.exe file or icon to activate it.

A login window will then appear.

IMPORTANT: Before you do anything else, immediately select “SSH” as your Protocol, from the list near the top (Raw, Telnet, Rlogin, SSH). This will ensure you access your host server on a secure connection.

Then type your domain URL in the Host Name box at the very top.

Click “open”.

A small black window will then appear. This is your dialogue box with the host server.

BEFORE you can input anything, though, you will likely get a security warning dialogue box, informing you that the server ID has not been cached - so you have no way of knowing that the server you intend to connect to is actually the one you actually will connect to (an issues with spoofing).

However, unless you have grounds to suspet otherwise, “accept” or “ok”.

You will then be asked to login - usually this will be your master admin login ID, but sometimes you may find that the required login will be a FTP login, rather than general admin login ID.

Check if you’re uncertain - or simply try one, and if you get an error message, consider typos or a need to reference a different login ID.

Once accepted, you will get a shell prompt. You are now living in a command line linux server environment.

3. Saving a database via SSH

One use of SSH is to access a database directly.

Why might you use SSH instead of one-click commands in CPanel and other website admin panels? Well, for a start, what if the control panel is not working? I’ve lived that fun experience before, after a serious hack of a server I had a site on.

The required command syntax for use in this environment will likely be in the following manner:

mysqldump -uusername -p databasename > PreferedFileName.sql

What that will do is command the server to make a copy of the database SQL file in your root folder.

You can then use an FTP client to log into your root folder, and then download your SQL file directly.

If your SQL file is somewhat large, you can always command the server to save a gzipped version instead, using the following command line:

mysqldump -uusername -p databasename | gzip > PreferedFileName.gz

That should hopefully serve as a practical and useful introduction to using SSH.

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