Free UNIX Shell Access

We include with all of our Web Hosting plans full shell access. UNIX Shell access is granted to our clients via Secure Shell (SSH).

SSH is a fully encrypted and secure protocol for accessing the shell on UNIX servers. SSH is very similar to telnet, but, SSH is a fully encrypted method of communicating with the server. This means that SSH connections encrypt data sent between the client and the server - ensuring that things like your passwords or other sensitive information are not intercepted in transit.

As you may already know, having access to the shell is a necessity when developing, installing or debugging CGI's, Perl, PHP or other scripts. Using SSH you'll have full access to the following:

• Apache Web server access and error log files,
• Common development tools like:
  • perl
  • PHP CLI
  • python
  • gcc
  • make
  • java/javac
  • ... and many more
• Common UNIX Commands and tools like:
  • vi
  • tail
  • more
  • cat
  • chmod
  • pico
  • emacs
  • ... and many more
• MySQL command line tools,
• PostgreSQL command line tools,
• Tomcat Java Servlet Engine log files
• ... and many, many more tools and log files - there are too many to list.

Full instructions on accessing the server via SSH are included in the welcome e-mail you will receive when you open an account. If you don't already have an SSH client installed, take a look at the client software we mention below.

SSH Client Software

There are several SSH client software packages available for free. If you don't already have one, you can download one of the SSH clients shown below.

PuTTY - A well known, free and feature-rich SSH Client. Runs on all versions of Windows including Windows 95 or newer. (There is also an version for Windows NT on Alpha.)

MacSSH - MacSSH is an SSH client for use on Mac computers that are running older versions of the MacOS. Any MacOS version less than MacOS X can use MacSSH. MacOS X or newer includes ssh by default.

Telnet is Disabled

We do not enable Telnet on our web servers.

Telnet is an insecure protocol that transmits data in the clear. This means that every password, every command - in short - everything you do via Telnet is transmitted in plain text between you and the server. Anyone who is monitoring your connection to the Internet can view all of the data you transmit or receive via Telnet. This could lead to passwords or other sensitive data being compromised.

In addition to the risk of data interception, telnet is known to have several security holes.

For these reasons, we only allow secure SSH connections to our server. This helps to ensure the security of all of the accounts on our servers. In addition, it keeps our servers from being the target of exploits or hack attempts. <%@ include file="/ssi/learn-about-sales-links.jsp" %>