Synopsis:
What software can I use to connect to my Unix account securely?

Solution:
Secure Shell (SSH) is a protocol that supports terminal sessions (like telnet) and file transfer sessions (like FTP). The primary advantage of SSH over the other two protocols is that SSH encrypts all communications, whereas with telnet and FTP all transmissions (including your password) are submitted in plain text. Telnet access and insecure FTP access to OIT managed Unix and Linux servers have been discontinued, so the use of a secure protocol to connect to OIT Unix and Linux servers is required.

Important Note: All new Unix accounts (Undergraduate accounts excepted) are set up with a default Unix shell of /bin/nologin that prohibits login access. If you wish to use SSH or Secure FTP to connect to your Unix account, simply change this option by using the Enable Unix Account page.

Using the SSH protocol requires that you have an SSH client application on your workstation. Each workstation platform (i.e. Windows, Mac, Linux) uses different client software to implement the SSH protocol. Additionally, there is a Java-based SSH client that can be loaded on demand onto any of our standard platforms. The recommended SSH clients and links to obtain those products are listed below.

Mac OS X
Mac OS X has a built-in SSH client. To connect to your Unix account, use the Terminal utility and type:

ssh netID@arizona.princeton.edu

For Mac users who want a graphical interface for secure FTP, OIT recommends the use of FileZilla, a free FTP solution found at: http://filezilla-project.org.

Windows
The University's recommended SSH client is PuTTY, a collection of Open Source SSH clients written and maintained by Simon Tatham. The software is freely licensed for download from www.putty.org under the MIT License. The PuTTY clients are simple to install and very stable.

For Windows users who want a graphical interface for secure FTP, OIT recommends the use of FileZilla, a free FTP solution found at: http://filezilla-project.org.

Linux
Most Linux distributions come with a standard SSH client that works with OIT Unix servers. Type the command: ssh netID@arizona.princeton.edu

For Unix users who want a graphical interface for secure FTP, OIT recommends the use of FileZilla, a free FTP solution found at: http://filezilla-project.org.

Web-based MindTerm
MindTerm is a Java-based SSH client application that can be downloaded to any major browser on Windows, Mac, Linux and UNIX platforms that are Java-enabled. Use MindTerm to connect to Unix servers for secure connectivity and password protection. For more information see Solution 9701.