This page provides information regarding SSH client software that you may use to more securely connect to the Physics Workstations.

Choose an environment:

• Web browser with Java 1.1.x or better

• Windows NT/2000/XP

• Classic MacOS with MRJ (Java)

• Classic MacOS (7.x, 8.x, 9.x)

• *nix (including GNU/Linux, *BSD, MacOS X)

Web browser with Java 1.1.x or better

The Physics WebSSH site provides the Mindterm Java Applet. Use this to more securely connect to the Physics workstations from remote sites. The requirements for Java applet Mindterm are 1) a reasonably recent Web browser, 2) Java 1.1.x or better support, and of course 3) Internet connectivity. Due to its small install footprint it is well-suited to use from conference browser-only style terminals and the like---of course you should never assume that such publically available computers are secure.

Note: bear in mind that on slow connections some time must pass (as much as a couple of minutes) the first time the Java applet is downloaded to the local computer.

The FTP to SFTP Bridge option will be of particular interest to people who are stuck with older software that does not support SSH. Here's how you can enable the bridge:

• Browse to Physics WebSSH
• Follow the prompts to save a profile, select a hostname, and login
• In the terminal window click File > FTP to SFTP Bridge
• In the bridge window set listen address: 127.0.0.1 and listen port: 21
• Click Enable followed by Close Dialog

Now you may securely FTP to Newt using the address 127.0.0.1 instead of newt.phys.unsw.edu.au. For example, you can tell Dreamweaver to connect via FTP to host 127.0.0.1 and you will then be talking to Newt over a secure channel.

You may also use the Mindterm terminal window File > SFTP File Transfer menu branch instead of your regular graphical FTP client.

Windows NT/2000/XP

Download address:
SSH Secure Shell for Workstations client for Windows (includes Secure FTP support). When downloading, look for the file named SSHWinClient-n.n.n-buildnnn.exe where n loosely represents the version and build numbers. Also try our Downloads page (search for SSH).

Installation manual:
SSH Secure Shell for Workstations Windows Client Version 3.2 User Manual.

Home address:
SSH Secure Shell for Workstations

WsFTP Pro 7.61 or newer (Secure FTP only)

This client apparently has a stable Secure FTP implementation. As of this writing it is provided on a shareware 30 day trial basis.

Download address:
Search for "WsFTP Pro" at TUCOWS

Home address:
Ipswitch Home

Home address:
MacSSH/MacSFTP home

Download address:
MacSSH/SFTP Download

Help:
FAQ

• Get the MRJ 2.2.5 JDK and SDK from http://developer.apple.com/java/classic.html
• Explore the contents of the JDK archive and save a copy of its JBindery program to your hard disk. Discard the JDK
• Download a copy of MindTerm.jar to your hard disk
• Drop the MindTerm.jar file onto the JBindery binary and JBindery will open
• Set Classname: com.mindbright.application.MindTerm
• Use Save Settings (set [X] Save As Application) to save the application to your desktop as, say, MindTermSSH

Most modern *NIX operating systems feature SSH support out of the box. Open a terminal and enter at the UNIX command prompt ssh USERNAME@HOSTNAME where USERNAME is your username on the remote host and HOSTNAME is the name of the remote host that you wish to logon to. MacOS X (the "X" is pronounced "Ten") runs Darwin which is based on a hybrid Mach VM microkernel/BSD kernel and *BSD Unix; MacOS X comes with OpenSSH so you can use the Terminal application to run the ssh command as per other *BSD operating systems. If you wish to run X11 applications you will need X11 server support which you can download here.

SFTP note

SFTP is available on the Physics workstations---use it instead of plain FTP. SFTP uses SSH to provide an encrypted communication channel over which FTP transactions occur. This means that your user name, password, FTP commands and data transfers will not be transmitted in plaintext over the wire. Secure Shell for Workstations provides a GUI SFTP interface that is very easy to use. The Physics WebSSH SFTP bridge may do the job for you. You may also use a command line sftp client such as that which comes with OpenSSH. Command line SFTP clients function much like their FTP counterparts:

Plio> sftp lemur@ugrad
Connecting to ugrad...
lemur@ugrad's password:
sftp> ls
-rw-r--r-- 1 lemur strepsirrhini 1536 Feb 21 11:51 sifaka.c
sftp> get sifaka.c
Fetching /usr/users/primate/lemur/sifaka.c to sifaka.c
sftp> quit

You can use the local SFTP client found on all Physics workstations to connect to non-Physics hosts that support SFTP, and vice-versa. Use the command man sftp on any workstation to get information on available SFTP options.