Mac OS X: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

Remote Access with SSH

Are you a geek? Take this simple test at home. Do you get excited about Mac OS X's ability to permit SSH access?

If you answered "What's SSH?" or "I'm already being quiet," then the following discussion of Unix remote control may not interest you. To be sure, SSH is not a program with a graphic user interface (icons and menus). You operate it from within a program like Terminal by typing commands, exactly as described in Chapter 16.

If you're willing to overlook that little peccadillo, though, SSH (Secure Shell) is an extremely powerful tool. It lets you connect to your Mac from anywhere—from across the network or across the Internet. And once you're connected, you can take complete control of it, copying files, running commands, rearranging folders, or even shutting it down, all by remote control.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION: Connecting Through a Router

I want to connect to my home network from the road. Trouble is, I have a router that shares my broadband modem with a bunch of Macs. How do I get into one specific Mac? It doesn't really have a "real" IP address, because the router is sharing the cable modem's signal!

It's possible—just complicated.

Most home broadband routers offer a feature called port forwarding, in which signals intended for a specific port (Section 22.4) on the router (port 22 for ssh, for example) get passed on to whichever computer on the network you've designated. (You specify this using the router's management software.) You can specify a ...