Using SSH for ECE574 Homework and Projects

Logging into a System with SSH

• Linux and Mac OSX
  On Linux and Mac OSX the ssh client is usually installed by default. To log into another machine just run
  "ssh username@HOSTNAME"
  at a shell terminal prompt (where username is your username on the remote machine, and HOSTNAME is the name or IP address of the remote machine). You will be prompted for a password, and after you enter it you will be logged in.
  
  Note, the machine we are using has ssh on a non-standard port, so you will actually do something more similar to:
  "ssh -p2131 username@HOSTNAME"
  
• Windows
  Windows does not include an ssh client. A free client I have used before is PuTTY. Download a binary from that page and run it; it will prompt you for a username and hostname and log you in to the system.
  
  The program should look something like this:
  
  
  In the HostName field put the hostname given out in class (likely weaver.eece.maine.edu). If the instructions specify a non-default port (i.e. 2131) put it in the Port field. Make sure SSH is selected under Protocol, and click open. It should then prompt you for your username and password.
  
  Note: if you want to use a command line to connect instead of putty you can try using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

Copying Files over SSH

• Linux or MacOS
  
  On a Linux or Mac OS machine you can use the "scp" command to copy files to and from a remote machine using the ssh protocol. For example, you can do
  "scp username@HOSTNAME:project_1.tar.gz ."
  which will copy the file project_1.tar.gz from your home directory on HOSTNAME to the local directory on your current computer (after entering your password). You can do the reverse,
  "scp project5.tar.gz username@HOSTNAME:"
  will copy project5.tar.gz from your local machine to your home directory on HOSTNAME. You can specify subdirectories and the like when giving the path to the project involved.
  
  If you need to use a non-standard port you specify that at the command line. Note for scp you need to use capital-p "-P" to specify port, which is different from ssh which uses lowercase-p "-p"
  
  "scp -P2131 username@HOSTNAME:project_1.tar.gz ."
  
  
• Windows
  
  It is often inconvenient to do complex SCP commands. There are GUIs that make this easier. One free scp/sftp client students often use on Windows is WinSCP which gives a GUI interface for transfering the files back and forth.
  
  Be careful downloading it as the download website might have some deceptive ads on it that try to trick you into downloading malware.
  
  When setting up, be sure to put the hostname and port, and also be sure to set the protocol to "SFTP" (it might default to plan unsecure ftp which won't work in this case).