Communicating with your server with Telnet & SSH

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Using Telnet and SSH
We-Host not only has the best Virtual Server technology, we also have seasoned security experts who maintain our server equipment. Because of this, we are more than comfortable providing our clients with telnet and SSH access to their Virtual Servers (most other web hosting providers lack the confidence and expertise necessary to make their servers secure). Our "security hardened" server environment insures that your data (and our data) cannot be compromised.

Providing Telnet and SSH access is a fundamental part of We-Host's philosophy with regard to remote administration. A We-Host Virtual Server System allows you to have a dedicated presence on the Internet and maintain it remotely via a low cost dial-up connection. Remote administration is one of the most powerful tools included as part of the We-Host Virtual Server System. By using a Telnet or SSH client, you can connect to your Virtual Server from anywhere in the world, and log in to your server as if you were sitting right in front it.

Choosing a Telnet Client
There are quite a few telnet clients available, many of which are free. For example, the Windows 95/NT operating systems are shipped with a telnet client included (found at "c:\windows\telnet.exe" and "c:\winnt\system32\telnet.exe" respectively). This telnet client is simple and functional, but not quite as flexible and friendly as CRT from Van Dyke Technologies, Inc. We also use, and have a personal favorite of Van Dyke's Secure CRT program which will allow regular or secure Telnet functions.

For the Macintosh OS, we recommend NSCA Telnet written by the Software Development Group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. Unix users can use the built-in telnet client software shipped with the operating system.

Choosing a SSH Client
SSH (or Secure Shell) is a program that can be used to log into a remote machine (your Virtual Server) and provide secure encrypted communications between your Virtual Server and your local computer. All of the commands you would use in a Telnet client, you can use in an SSH client. The only difference is that the communication is made via encrypted channels to and from your Virtual Server. An excellent SSH client to use to connect to your Virtual Server is F-Secure SSH which is included in the F-Secure Desktop written by Data Fellows.

Connecting To Your Virtual Server
Once you have chosen a Telnet or SSH client, connecting to your We-Host Virtual Server is extremely simple. Although telnet and SSH clients vary in their exact configuration, most of them will simply require you to specify a "remote host". Your remote host is your Virtual Server, so you would specify your domain name (or your temporary domain if applicable).

Once you are connected, you will be prompted for your login name and login password. You specified both your login name and login password when you ordered your Virtual Server. After the login process is successful, you will have gained access to your Virtual Server and can now issue commands at the command prompt. If you are not familiar with UNIX, you can learn some simple UNIX commands and use them with confidence.

For more information on Telnet and SSH, be sure to check out our Virtual Server Administrator Handbook. The manual will help you become very comfortable using Telnet and SSH. If you have further questions, or comments, please contact our support staff.