Ode to SSH
Dearest SSH,
"Have I told you lately, that I [SSH] you?"
You encrypt my shell sessions.
You forward my TCP ports.
You proxy my HTTP sessions.
You compress my various tunneled applications.
You forward my TCP ports.
You proxy my HTTP sessions.
You compress my various tunneled applications.
...
Now is one of those moments when I reflect on how much benefit I get from a particular open-source project. Sometimes it's awk, Linux in general, etc... this time it's SSH.
Some of the things I use SSH for:
- Secure terminal access to my servers (obviously)
- Accessing my music archives from afar (DAAP over SSH)
- Remote Desktop, only much safer (RDP over SSH)
- Safely administering remote databases (MySQL over SSH)
- Safer browsing from other networks - hotels, coffee shops, etc (SOCKS proxy via SSH)
My working environment, with the benefit of SSH:
- Using GNU Screen, I can resume my work anywhere.
- With vim, I can have a sensible programming environment on very low bandwidth
- Git lets me push code around between several machines efficiently
- Rsync (or unison) lets me synchronize and maintain file systems very conveniently
- I issue updates and test code (mostly web apps) from anywhere, as though I were on site
Very rarely do I have to think about security - my SSH configuration lets me focus on business, rather than logistics. (Mind you, I had to think about it in order to set it up the first time, but once it's done, it's wonderful.)
Dearest SSH, Thank you.

