The focus of this guide is working on remote servers. Before any work can be done, we must connect to the server in question.

This can be done in a variety of ways. SSH, telnet, rlogin and others can be used. SSH is the most secure and is what is offered most often with web hosting.

1. Setting up SSH

Different (free) client software is available for use.

If the software asks for a port, enter 22, select SSH if there are multiple connection methods. The below screenshot is for the free Putty SSH client software.

Don't forget to replace user@your_domain.com by your own SSH username and domain name.

The first time you correct to a remote server/host you may see a message similar to the one below.

Host key not found from the list of known hosts. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

You do want to continue, so enter yes. Next, you are prompted for your password. Enter it to log in.

username@your_domain.com's password:

2. Connected

Once logged into the remote Linux server, you will see the command prompt.

machine:~$

Note that your command prompt will look different, it all depends on how the remote server is configured.

At this point, you are ready to try the Linux commands covered it this tutorial, or other Linux commands.

When you are done and ready to terminate the SSH connection, simply type exit followed by enter. Pressing enter sends commands to the server.