You can use it with the Secure Socket Shell Protocol, or Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) to log in, execute commands, and manage data securely between computers using an encrypted connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This also includes logging into your server to transfer, execute, and otherwise manage the files and folders on your website at lightning speeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, I\u2019ll share how to use the command line and SSH to manage your website as well as more detail on what they are, and the requirements to use them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is the Command Line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To understand what the \ncommand line is, exactly, it\u2019s essential to first know about the command\n prompt, and Command-Line Interface, what a command is as well as the \napps you need to use them to manage your website, or network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A \nCommand-Line Interface (CLI) is a user interface (UI) that\u2019s text based.\n It\u2019s typically a program with a black, or white background. You type \ncommands into it to manage files and folders on a computer, or server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Windows\n has a CLI called Command Prompt and for Mac computers, there\u2019s the \nTerminal.app. Both are pre-installed. You can use one of them, and there\n are also other options available such as PuTTY<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s\n where things get a little confusing: The command prompt can also be \nused to describe the symbol or series of characters that appear in the \nCLI and asks \u2013 or prompts \u2013 the user to enter a command. It\u2019s sometimes \nreferred to as a \u201cprompt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A command is an instruction that the \nuser types into the CLI that they want executed. This can be creating \nand naming a file or folder, transferring files, moving them, editing \nthem, and many other options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A command line is the line or space that appears after the prompt where the user can type a command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If\n that\u2019s not confusing enough already, try this on for size: \u201cCommand \nLine\u201d is often used to refer to a CLI, especially for Linux operating \nsystems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell (SSH) is a protocol used to securely connect to an otherwise insecure computer, or server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\n uses cryptography to provide strong authentication methods to determine\n that a computer or server you\u2019re trying to connect to is legitimate, \nand actually where you meant to connect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also uses encryption to secure the connection between your computer and the destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a successor to Telnet, rlogin, and rsh. It securely replaces all of these other protocols which were prominently used in the 1990\u2019s. It\u2019s now best practice to use SSH over these other options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can enable SSH when you use the command line to ensure your connection is secure and your data is safe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSSH\u201d is also used among web developers in casual conversations to refer to using the command line with SSH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The command line is intended to be used with Unix-like distributions such as Linux. But, you can still use it on Windows if you install OpenSSH<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The April 2018 update for Windows 10<\/a>\n also automatically has OpenSSH installed and enabled so you don\u2019t have \nto do anything else to use the Command Prompt to connect to your site\u2019s \nserver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re using a different version of Windows, you can \nalso choose to use PuTTY, or you can use it instead of the updated \nCommand Prompt since it has a user-friendly Graphical User Interface \n(GUI) that can help you use the command line more efficiently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To \naccess the Command Prompt, press CTRL and R on your keyboard, type \u201ccmd\u201d\n into the text field, (without quotation marks) and press the Enter key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have a Mac, you can use the Terminal app that\u2019s inherently available. You can find it in your Applications > Utilities<\/strong> folder, or you can search for it by name using the Launchpad app. Either way, it\u2019s labelled as \u201cTerminal.app.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other\n than these basic requirements, you also need to have SSH enabled on \nyour server. Depending on your host, or hosting plan, you may not have \nSSH available such as for shared servers and hosting plans. SSH is \ntypically made available on VPS, dedicated, managed, and some cloud \nservers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re unsure of whether you can use SSH to connect to\n your site\u2019s server, check with your hosting provider. They can also \nguide you through enabling it since most hosts vary slightly, or a great\n deal when it comes to their control panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other than those basic requirements, there are other tools and options that are commonly used with the command line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For\n example, it\u2019s incredibly common to come across tutorial after tutorial \nthat already assumes you have these pre-installed, or updated to the \nlatest version. In most cases, most of these are already set up on your \nserver, but you can ask your host if you\u2019re unsure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few common tools that you\u2019ll often need:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep\n in mind that this is by no means a complete list, but it should give \nyou a good idea of what to expect and look for when you learn how to use\n the command line and SSH.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To use the command line, there are some key things you need to connect to your site\u2019s server:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Typically, these can all can be found before, or after logging into your account with your hosting provider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\n username for servers can often be \u201croot,\u201d but this isn\u2019t always the \ncase so be sure to double check. The username and password typically is \nthe same as your credentials to log into your web host account. This \nisn\u2019t always the case so when in doubt, contact your host.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commonly,\n port number 22 is used in most cases, but this also isn\u2019t always the \ncase. You can also check with your host to be sure of which port you \nshould use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In cPanel, you can find your IP address on the right-hand side after logging in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once\n you have noted the credentials you need as listed above, you can go \nahead and fire up Command Prompt, the Terminal app, or whatever CLI you \nwant to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, type the command below, then press the enter or return key on your keyboard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be sure to replace \u201cusername\u201d with your actual username, and \u201cIP \naddress\u201d with your server\u2019s IP address. You can also choose to use your \ndomain name instead of your server\u2019s IP address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, your command should look similar to the example below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once that\u2019s done, you\u2019ll be prompted to enter your password. Type it in, then press the enter or return key again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you need to use a port number other than 22, use this command instead:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar to the above example, replace \u201cusername\u201d and \u201cIP address\u201d in\n this example with your actual credentials. Also, replace \u201c####\u201d with \nthe port number you want to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, your command will look similar to this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re using PuTTY<\/a>, the process of logging in is slightly different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once\n you have downloaded the SSH client, open it and in the configuration \nwindow, enter your IP address and port number into the corresponding \nfields. Be sure to also select the SSH<\/strong> option under Connection type<\/strong> if it\u2019s not already selected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, click the Open<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A new window will launch with the command line. Type your username, then press enter<\/em> or return<\/em> on your keyboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, type your password. Then, press the enter<\/em> or return<\/em> key again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you\u2019re logged in, you can start entering the commands you need to fulfill the tasks you want to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For full lists of commands you can use, check out An A-Z List of the Linux Command Line<\/a>, Useful Terminal Commands for Ubuntu or Debian<\/a>, and Basic SSH (PuTTY) Commands<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chances\n are you already have everything you need to get started, and now you \nknow how to use the command line with SSH to manage your site and server\n files and folders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you now know how to use the command \nline and SSH, or are there some questions that you still have? What type\n of CLI do you use, and which one do you prefer? Do you prefer using a \nGUI? Share your experience in the comments below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you know how to use the command line and SSH, you can manage your website and server much quicker than you would using the front end admin area. According to the Linux Information Project: \u201cA command line is the space to the right of the command prompt on an all-text display mode on a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,18],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":364,"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beginnor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Terminal](\"https:\/\/v3b4d4f5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/wp-rocket-terminal-app.jpg\")
What is SSH<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to Use the Command Line: Basic Requirements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Other Requirements<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What You Need to Connect<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"You](\"https:\/\/v3b4d4f5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/wp-rocket-cpanel-ip-address-ssh.jpg\")
How to Use the Command Line to Log In<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
ssh usernam@IP address<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nssh root@208.67.222.222<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nssh username@IP address -p ####<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nssh root@208.67.222.222 -p 2222<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nLogging in with PuTTY<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"PuTTY](\"https:\/\/v3b4d4f5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/wp-rocket-putty-configuration.png\")
How to Use the Command Line: Commands<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Wrapping Up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n