Secure shell or SSH is both a program and a
network protocol for logging into and executing commands on a remote computer. It is intended to replace
rlogin[?],
telnet and
rsh[?], and provides secure encrypted
communications between two untrusted
hosts over an insecure network.
X11 connections and arbitrary
TCP/IP ports can also be forwarded over the secure channel.
The program is a common Unix shell program, but there exists implementations for most modern platforms, including Microsoft Windows (where one of the most popular is PuTTY).
A later version of the protocol was released under the name SSH2.
OpenSSH is an open source implementation of SSH. Corkscrew is a tool enabling the user to run SSH over HTTPS proxy servers.
An IETF working group, secsh, is currently in the process of standardizing the protocol.
- IETF working group (http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/secsh-charter.html)
- PuTTY home page (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/)
This article (or an earlier version of it) contains material from FOLDOC, used with permission.
