Shell account information

Access

You can login to your shell account using Secure Shell (SSH) to sphinx.mythic-beasts.com. SSH is a superior replacement for telnet, the most important difference being that all communications are encrypted. This means that your password and other sensitive data are not sent over the network in-the-clear. Free SSH clients are available for most platforms:

Linux, and other Unix-like systems: We recommend OpenSSH [details].
Windows: There are several free and commercial clients available for Windows. We recommend PuTTY [details].
Apple Macintosh: The OpenSSH people recommend NiftyTelnet SSH [details].
DOS: Yep, that's right, you can even get an SSH client for that old DOS box you've got sitting in the corner, so there really is no need to use telnet ever. Get SSHDOS here.

You can also use this SSH Java Applet, allowing you to connect even in places where you cannot install a suitable client, such as internet cafes.

We do not allow telnet access. The telnet protocol requires you to send your password in-the-clear over the network, leaving it open to password sniffers. There is no need to ever use telnet, given the widespread availability of free SSH clients.

Changing your password

When you get given your username and initial password, the first thing that you should do is change your password to one of your own. To do this, login and type passwd. You will be prompted to type your old password, and then to enter your new password twice.

Available programs

Our server has a reasonably full installation of RedHat Linux 6.1 with updates. If you find programs that you need that are not installed, email us and we may be able to install it.

By default, you will not be able to use programs that require special priveleges such as crontab or traceroute. If you need to use these programs, please email us.

Finger information

You can control how much information is given out by our server to remote users by the finger servers. By default, no information will be given out. In order to change this, create a file called .finger in your home directory. This will give out your real name, and whether you are logged in or not, and the contents of the .plan file in your home directory, if you have created one. If a user specifies a long query, eg.

finger -l user@sphinx.mythic-beasts.com

Then the finger service will also return the contents of the .pgpkey file, if you have created one. This is a good way of distributing your PGP/GPG public key.