From a Unix account, how do I connect to another shared computer?

You can use two different programs to connect to another shared computer from a Unix account: telnet and SSH. At Indiana University, both are available on most UITS shared central systems, although SSH (especially version 2) is considerably more secure. Since telnet transfers all data unencrypted over the network, (including passwords), UITS recommends that you use SSH if it is supported by the host to which you are connecting. For security reasons, the central research systems at IU do not allow incoming telnet connections. To access these systems, you will need to use an SSH client.

To connect using telnet, at the Unix prompt, enter:

Replace hostname with the name of the shared computer to which you are connecting.

To connect using SSH, at the Unix prompt, enter:

Replace hostname with the name of the shared computer to which you are connecting (e.g., quarry.uits.indiana.edu ).

To use SSH2, you can usually enter ssh to run the latest installed version. If that runs SSH1 or produces an error, try entering ssh2 .

In SSH, the first time two computers connect, the computer to which your computer is connecting (the "remote host") must supply the computer making the connection (the "local host") with its SSH host key. In this case, you will get a message from the local host saying that the host key was not found in the local database, and asking you if you wish to accept the key and continue the connection. Enter yes . To continue the login process, the remote host will then prompt you for your password.

To connect via SSH to a remote host on which your username is different from your local username, enter one of the following commands:

Replace remotename with your username on the remote host, and remotehost with the name of the remote host.

Note: When you log out of the remote host, you will still be logged into your local host, so do not leave the local session unattended.

At Indiana University, to get support for personal or departmental Linux or Unix systems, see At IU, how do I get support for Linux or Unix?

Also see:

• How can I find out how busy a Unix computer is?
• In Unix, what is rcp, and how do I use it?
• What are SSH and SSH2?
• In SSH and SSH2 for Unix, how do I set up public key authentication?
• In Unix, how do I use the scp command to securely transfer files between two computers?
• In Unix, how do I securely run programs on a remote host?