What is SSH?
SSH is a secure way to open a command line on another computer over the network, with everything encrypted.
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SSH (Secure Shell) lets you log in to a remote machine and type commands as if you were sitting in front of it. Think of it as a sealed, armoured tube between two computers: whatever you type goes through, but nobody listening on the network can read it. It replaced older tools like telnet that sent passwords in plain text.
Administrators use SSH all day to manage Linux servers, Git uses it to push and pull from GitHub, and tools like scp and rsync copy files over it. Instead of passwords, most people use a key pair: the private key stays on your laptop and the public key is placed on the server. The default port is 22.
ssh [email protected]
ssh-keygen -t ed25519See also: What is a terminal? and What is encryption?
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See also
- 0345 SSH keys: create, copy and use them Generate an ed25519 key pair, install the public key on a server with ssh-copy-id, keep the private key protected with a passphrase… Beginner · Step by step · Linux, macOS, Windows Article Keys & config · SSH 15 Oct 2026
- 0346 The SSH config file: aliases, jump hosts and keys per server Reference for ~/.ssh/config: short names for servers, the right user, port and key per host, ProxyJump through a bastion, connection reuse and… Intermediate · Cheat sheet · Linux, macOS, Windows Article Keys & config · SSH 15 Oct 2026
- 0353 fail2ban: block repeated failed logins Install fail2ban, enable the sshd jail with sane ban times, whitelist your own address, read the ban list, unban someone, and add… Intermediate · Step by step · Linux Article Server hardening · SSH 15 Oct 2026
- 0358 SSH server audit script: print risky sshd settings A read-only bash script that asks sshd for its effective configuration, compares the important settings with safe values, flags config.d files that… Intermediate · Cheat sheet · Linux Script Server hardening · SSH 15 Oct 2026
Repos in the wild
- fail2ban: ban hosts that fail to log in too often fail2ban/fail2ban The standard intrusion-prevention daemon on Linux servers: it watches logs or the journal for repeated failures and adds temporary firewall rules against the offending addresses. GitHub
History
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- Dominik +740 chars