SSH For Dummies

Problem

Use Putty to connect to your server

tl;dr

Download PuTTY here. Open putty.exe and type in your server's IP address in "Host Name (or IP address)" box. Type in your credentials.

Solution

SSH, or Secure Shell, is a secure protocol for opening connections to a remote server. In essence, it lets you open a command line interface ("shell") that you can use to remotely do things on your server, the same way as you would with a monitor and a keyboard.

Putty, available here is one of the most common SSH clients currently in use. If you are using Windows, you can download this executable. Make sure to allow it in your browser, as Chrome and Firefox sometimes block .exe files to prevent you from downloading viruses.

Putty is a stand-alone program, so save it anywhere that is convenient. Once you connect to a server, Putty stores RSA keys in a folder in the same directory as putty.exe, so you may probably wish to store it somewhere other than your desktop.

Connecting to your server is extremely easy. Open putty.exe, and type in your server's IP address in the "Host Name (or IP address)" text box. Then hit [Enter] or click on [Open] at the bottom of the Putty window. If this is your first time connecting to the server, you will see this message:

PuTTY Security Alert

The server's host key is not cached in the registry.
You have no guarantee that the server is the computer you think it is.
The server's rsa2 key fingerprint is:
ssh-rsa 2048 ###########################

This is normal if you have not connected to the server before. Hit [Yes] to save the key, and next time you will not see the error message unless you reinstall the server's OS or clear the cache/rsa keys.

Finally, type in your username and password, and you will be connected to the server:

login as: root
root@1.2.3.4's password:

[root@yourservername ~]#