begin quoting Ralph Shumaker as of Sun, Sep 25, 2005 at 11:28:11AM -0700:
> Todd Walton wrote:
>
> [snip]
> >Well, I have no knowledge at all about VPNs, so I don't know how easy
> >or simple they are. But SSH is *very* simple. Install it on your
> >comptuer (apt-get openssh?) and on the other computer. Make the ssh
> >server be running on the receiving computer ('/etc/init.d/sshd start'
> >on Gentoo). Then type 'ssh [EMAIL PROTECTED]' and it asks
> >you for the password and you're in.
>
> The last sentence is somewhat unclear to me. Is 'ssh
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]' (also unclear to me) to be done on the
> receiving computer or on mine? Something I wish man pages would do is
> give more examples and explain what the examples do. It usually
> explains things in such a seemingly cryptic way.
localbox% ssh [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Password:
remotebox%
> "man ssh" works on mine. Doesn't that mean I have it already? ("man
> ssh" makes ssh look *very* complicated, but then again, I only
> understand about half of it, if even that.)
Er, "man ssh" just says you have the manual pages. Use "which ssh" to
tell you if you have the command (and where it's at).
> >If you only need the command line on the remote computer, SSH is most
> >likely simpler than setting up a virtual private network. If you need
> >to address the other computer as if it were connected to your router,
> >then a VPN is what you need. I'm guessing you are of the former,
> >SSH-is-sufficient, situation.
>
> What is the difference? (This is *not* a rhetorical question.)
A VPN makes it easy for computers on the local network to appear to
be on computers on another (remote) local network.
Computer 1 -\ /- Computer A
Computer 2 -->-[VPN]------...------[VPN]-<-- Computer B
Computer 3 -/ \- Computer C
If you're connecting just one computer to just one computer, a VPN is
likely overkill, and this is where SSH works well.
Computer 1 --[SSH]--------...--------[SSH]-- Computer A
> When I am on her pc, I usually log in with my own login which then gives
> me a gnome session. Most of what I do there is done in a virtual
> terminal. But there are also a few graphical programs that I run.
SSH can automatically tunnel X connections.
> Often I need to do things as root (using "su -" to do it) like to modify
> files and use yum. On rare occasion I need to "su otheruser -" to
> modify their files. It would be nice, while logged in as myself, to be
> able to tell gtkpod (or some other gui program) to run as another user
> (which is something I would like to know how to do while physicly on
> their pc).
Running X programs as another user over an ssh link? Erm, it can be
done, but I don't have a handy howto around. I do it so rarely I
never remember what it takes.
> Occasionally, I have felt the need to reboot the pc, which
> automatically comes back up to the graphical login prompt.
You want to connect to a remote machine as if you were local to it?
[snip]
> I do not know if this is something better suited to a VPN or
> sufficiently handled by SSH.
>
> I would like to know how to do this not only for my friend's pc, but
> later for my mom's. I want to get her set up with linux and I would
> like to be able to do maintenance. She and I are both on dialup. She
> is in Missouri whereas I am in San Diego. My friend is in San Diego also.
Do you have more than one machine to play with?
-Stewart "Still using SSH even though it's not the new hotness" Stremler
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