SSH and Slogin

Secure Shell and Secure Login are the same thing. They're programs that allow you to log in to your system through an encrypted connection. This is a good thing because when you log in remotely from someplace other than the console, your connection gets bounced along multiple computers. Specifically, your password gets bounced along multiple computers, and it's not encrypted!

Granted, finding a computer that allows an SSH login from it is a pain in the neck, but it's worth it. Having a user's password sniffed is very uncomfortable, and having the root password sniffed is dangerous. It is worth the effort of installing this program.

To obtain it, go to this web site: ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/packages/security/ssh/.

The ssh-1.2.26.tar.gz file is the latest SSH program that is not subject to stringent licensing agreements; this is the file that is documented below. The agreement on the later versions of SSH requires that the software be purchased unless it is only to be used for educational purposes. Download the file.

Make yourself root.

Put the downloaded file into the /tmp directory.

Type gunzip ssh-1.2.26.tar.gz and wait. Upon regaining the # prompt, type tar -xvf ssh-1.2.26.tar and the files will decompress.

The # prompt will come back up.

  1. cd ssh-1.2.26
  2. pico README
  3. Follow the instructions contained there. They contain all the instructions on how to correctly install SSH.
  4. cd /tmp and then rm -rf ssh-1.2.26 (Remove [recursive] [force] command) This will get rid of the directory in the /tmp file.
  5. To enable the ssh daemon to allow other people to connect securely to the machine, cd /usr/local/sbin/
  6. ./sshd
  7. Exit root.
And that's all there is to it. From now on,to connect to another secure site the command slogin -l [username] where username is the username of the other account will bring up a prompt for a password. If the password is correctly entered, the two servers will set up an encrypted, secure transmission.

Anyone coming in from the outside will be doing the same thing.

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Created: February 28, 1999
Last updated: May 12, 1999