MAC OS® X UNIX® Toolbox: 1000+ Commands for the Mac OS® X

Chapter 13. Remote System Administration

In This Chapter

• Configuring SSH

• Using SSH for remote login

• Using SSH to do tunneling

• Using SSH with private keys

• Using screen, a remote multiplexing terminal

• Accessing remote Windows desktops

• Sharing remote desktops with VNC

Most professional UNIX administrators do not run a graphical interface on their Internet servers. As a result, when you need to access other computers for remote administration, you will almost surely need to work from the command line at some time. Luckily, there are many feature-rich UNIX commands to help you do so.

Tools associated with the Secure Shell (SSH) service not only enable remote login and file transfer, they also offer encrypted communication to keep your remote administration work secure. With tools such as Virtual Network Computing (VNC), you can have a server's remote desktop appear on your local client computer. These and other features for performing remote systems administration are described in this chapter.

Remote Login and Tunneling with SSH

BSD systems, like their big brother UNIX, grew up on university networks. At a time when the only users of these networks were students and professors, and with networks mostly isolated from one another, there was little need for security.

Applications and protocols that were designed in those times (the 1970s and 1980s) reflect that lack of concern for encryption and authentication. SMTP is a perfect example of that. This is also true of the first generation of UNIX remote ...