to. The private key will saved as the file you specify in

$HOME/.ssh/filename (Default: 'identity' for RSA keys and 'id_dsa' for DSA

keys) and your public key will be stored with the '.pub' extension added

to it. You will also be asked for the passphrase, which is used to

encrypt the private part of your key further. You could do without

one but for those paranoid about security, this is a must.

Ssh is quite easy to use. As a replacement for telnet, it has a myriad of

options and is very flexible.

ssh hostname

This is the most basic usage - Making a secure connection to a host. If

this is the first time that you a connecting to the host, you will be

prompted by the following message

The authenticity of host 'hostname' can't be established.

RSA key fingerprint is 3b:60:57:4e:6c:59:5a:99:cf:41:d5:e0:14:af:0d:a1.

Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

Type a full 'yes' to add the host key to your list of known hosts. These

are stored in a file under $HOME/.ssh/known_hosts.

You will then be prompted for the password after which the connection proceeds.

A better command-line that you are likely to use is

ssh -C -i identity_file user@host [command]

-C - Use compression. Definitely a very good idea over a modem link.

-i - If you are using multiple public/private keys for various hosts, you

need to specify the one to use for the current connection. This should

point to the private key to be used.

user - The user you want connect as.

host - The host you want to connect to.

command - This is the command to run after connecting. You can use this to

directly run a command off the host you are connecting to.

If you would like a lot more information as the connection progresses, you

can add a '-v' to put ssh into verbose mode.

SSH also provides you with a way to connect to the other host *without*

using passwords. Just copy your public key file, whether RSA or DSA, over

to the server that you will be connecting to. On the server, you then need

to add this to the file $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys (RSA keys go here) or

to $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys2 (DSA keys go here). Now just run the normal

SSH command and you should will directly enter your home directory on the

server. You will probably be prompted for the password the first time but

thereafter you can connect without entering your password.

Secure File Transfer