Chapter 1: Introduction to PuTTY
PuTTY is a free SSH, Telnet and Rlogin client for Windows systems.
1.1 What are SSH, Telnet and Rlogin?
If you already know what SSH, Telnet and Rlogin are, you can safely skip on to the
next section.
SSH, Telnet and Rlogin are three ways of doing the same thing: logging in to a
multi-user computer from another computer, over a network.
Multi-user operating systems, such as Unix and VMS, usually present a command-line
interface to the user, much like the ‘Command Prompt’ or ‘MS-DOS Prompt’ in
Windows. The system prints a prompt, and you type commands which the system will
obey.
Using this type of interface, there is no need for you to be sitting at the same
machine you are typing commands to. The commands, and responses, can be sent over a
network, so you can sit at one computer and give commands to another one, or even
to more than one.
SSH, Telnet and Rlogin are network protocols that allow you to do this. On the
computer you sit at, you run a client, which makes a network connection to the
other computer (the server). The network connection carries your keystrokes and
commands from the client to the server, and carries the server's responses back to
you.
These protocols can also be used for other types of keyboard-based interactive
session. In particular, there are a lot of bulletin boards, talker systems and MUDs
(Multi-User Dungeons) which support access using Telnet. There are even a few that
support SSH.
You might want to use SSH, Telnet or Rlogin if:
you have an account on a Unix or VMS system which you want to be able to access
from somewhere else
your Internet Service Provider provides you with a login account on a web server.
(This might also be known as a shell account. A shell is the program that runs on
the server and interprets your commands for you.)
you want to use a bulletin board system, talker or MUD which can be accessed using
Telnet.
You probably do not want to use SSH, Telnet or Rlogin if:
you only use Windows. Windows computers have their own ways of networking between
themselves, and unless you are doing something fairly unusual, you will not need to
use any of these remote login protocols.
1.2 How do SSH, Telnet and Rlogin differ?
This list summarises some of the differences between SSH, Telnet and Rlogin.
SSH (which stands for ‘secure shell’) is a recently designed, high-security
protocol. It uses strong cryptography to protect your connection against
eavesdropping, hijacking and other attacks. Telnet and Rlogin are both older
protocols offering minimal security.
SSH and Rlogin both allow you to log in to the server without having to type a
password. (Rlogin's method of doing this is insecure, and can allow an attacker to
access your account on the server. SSH's method is much more secure, and typically
breaking the security requires the attacker to have gained access to your actual
client machine.)
SSH allows you to connect to the server and automatically send a command, so that
the server will run that command and then disconnect. So you can use it in
automated processing.
The Internet is a hostile environment and security is everybody's responsibility.
If you are connecting across the open Internet, then we recommend you use SSH. If
the server you want to connect to doesn't support SSH, it might be worth trying to
persuade the administrator to install it.
If your client and server are both behind the same (good) firewall, it is more
likely to be safe to use Telnet or Rlogin, but we still recommend you use SSH.
