SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide - Softcover

Barrett, Daniel J.; Silverman, Richard E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0596000111 ISBN 13: 9780596000110

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 2001

Synopsis

Secure your computer network with SSH! With transparent, strong encryption, reliable public-key authentication, and a highly configurable client/server architecture, SSH (Secure Shell) is a popular, robust, TCP/IP-based solution to many network security and privacy concerns. It supports secure remote logins, secure file transfer between computers, and a unique "tunneling" capability that adds encryption to otherwise insecure network applications. Best of all, SSH is free, with feature-filled commercial versions available as well.SSH: The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide covers the Secure Shell in detail for both system administrators and end users. It demystifies the SSH man pages and includes thorough coverage of:

• SSH1, SSH2, OpenSSH, and F-Secure SSH for Unix, plus Windows and Macintosh products: the basics, the internals, and complex applications.
• Configuring SSH servers and clients, both system-wide and per user, with recommended settings to maximize security.
• Advanced key management using agents, agent forwarding, and forced commands.
• Forwarding (tunneling) of TCP and X11 applications in depth, even in the presence of firewalls and network address translation (NAT).
• Undocumented behaviors of popular SSH implementations.
• Installing and maintaining SSH systems.

Whether you're communicating on a small LAN or across the Internet, SSH can ship your data from "here" to "there" efficiently and securely. So throw away those insecure .rhosts and hosts.equiv files, move up to SSH, and make your network a safe place to live and work.

About this title

Review

The suite of utility applications that Unix users and administrators find indispensable--Telnet, rlogin, FTP, and the rest--can in fact prove to be the undoing of interconnected systems. The Secure Shell, a.k.a. SSH (which isn't a true shell at all) provides your otherwise attack-prone utilities with the protection they need. SSH: The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide explains how to use SSH at all levels. In a blended sequence, the book explains what SSH is all about, how it fits into a larger security scheme, and how to employ it as an everyday user with an SSH client. More technically detailed chapters show how to configure a SSH server--several variants are covered--and how to integrate SSH with non-Unix client platforms.

As befits its detail- and variation-rich subject, this book comprises many specialized sections, each dealing with some specific aspect of use or configuration (setting up access control at the account level, for example, or generating keys for a particular SSH server). The writing is both informative and fun to read; the authors switch back and forth between text and entry-and-response listings from SSH machines. They often run through a half-dozen or more variants on the same command in a few pages, providing the reader with lots of practical information. The discussion of how SSH fits into a Kerberos Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is great, as is the advice on defeating particular kinds of attacks. --David Wall

Topics covered:

• The Secure Shell (SSH) for installers, administrators, and everyday users
• SSH design and operation
• Server setup
• SSH agents
• Client configuration
• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) integration
• SSH1
• SSH2
• F-Secure
• OpenSSH for Unix
• SSH1 and SecureCRT for Microsoft Windows
• NiftyTelnet SSH for Mac OS

About the Author

Dan Barrett has been immersed in Internet technology since 1985. Currently working as a software engineer, Dan has also been a heavy metal singer, Unix system administrator, university lecturer, web designer, and humorist. He has written several O'Reilly books, as well as monthly columns for Compute! and Keyboard Magazine. Dan and his family reside in Boston.

Richard E. Silverman has a B.A. in computer science and an M.A. in pure mathematics. Richard has worked in the fields of networking, formal methods in software development, public-key infrastructure, routing security, and Unix systems administration. He is the co-author of SSH, The Secure Shell: The Definitive Guide.

Edition details

• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0596000111
• ISBN 13: 9780596000110
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 560