Lightning Talk Round B1: The power of SSH

[tiuweehan]

Summary

Many developers know how to use ssh to access remote servers and scp to transfer files between servers, but most do not go beyond that. This talk introduces useful features built into SSH as well as tools that can help to improve the user experience for remote networking. Furthermore, this talk will delve into how SSH can also be useful in unexpected situations (e.g. routing traffic via a proxy, run GUI applications remotely).

PUNCH

I had to use SoC compute cluster for some of modules. However, I couldn't access it from outside of NUS, and I didn't want to install a VPN. Thankfully, one can first SSH into Sunfire, then SSH into SoC. But transferring files over were a huge pain.

WIIFY

• Better SSH experience: remove the frustration from typing long ssh and scp commands.
• Beter SSH experience: You don't have to manually hop between servers.
• Discover other useful features of SSH.
• Never have a problem managing remote servers.

Promise/Road Map

1. Start with example on how using basic ssh and scp commands can be problematic and doesn't scale well
2. Demonstrate how knowing SSH optimisations can solve the problem above
   a. Dotfiles
   b. SSH tunnelling
   c. SSHFS
   d. Some other potential optimisations
3. Demonstrate how knowing alternative uses for SSH can be useful
   a. Run remote GUI Applications
   b. Network proxies
4. Share other intangible benefits
   a. Refreshes networking knowledge
   b. Available on all major OSes
5. Tips on getting started

Key Points

• SSH configurations and tools can be used to improve user's networking experience
  • Dotfiles can be used for aliasing
  • SSH tunnelling simplifies navigating networks and reduces repetitiveness
  • SSHFS makes file transfer easy
  • There are many other tools that can optimise SSH experience
• SSH can be used for alternative purposes
  • Open remote GUI application
  • Network proxies
  • Many more that are not covered
• It is useful to learn SSH
  • SSH is natively available on almost all systems
  • Working with SSH reinforces networking concepts

Impact

Know: What some of the optimisations and alternative uses for SSH are.
Believe: Optimisations can greatly improve user experience and alternative uses can be very useful.
Do: Start optimising SSH and using for a wide range of purposes

Slides

Lightning Talk: The power of SSH