SSH and SFTP/SCP Required to Connect to ACCC Machines

To login or to transfer files to or from an ACCC Unix workstation, you must use SSH (Secure SHell) or SFTP (Secure FTP) or SCP (Secure CoPy) programs instead, which provide encrypted communications.

Do you want to connect to argo, icarus, or tigger? Then this applies to you.

• For remote logon you must cannot use telnet; you must use SSH.
• For file transfer, you must you cannot use FTP; you must use SFTP or SCP. (Not FTPS, either)
• This includes FTP-using programs, such as Dreamweaver.

To get SSH and SFTP software:

Windows:

For the ACCC's SecureCRT and SecureFX no cost, site-licensed SSH and SFTP for Windows,
see SecureCRT and SecureFX for Windows -- A Secure Replacement for Telnet and FTP.
If you already have the previous ACCC site-licensed SSH from SSH Communications Security installed, you can continue to use it, but cannot get upgrades or security fixes, which is not a particularly good idea for a security product.

Mac OS X:

For instructions on how to use the SSH built-in to Mac OS X and no-cost SFTP software for Mac OS X for Macs,
see SSH and sFTP for Macs -- A Secure Replacement for Telnet and FTP

Linux:

OpenSSH is almost always bundled with linux, which contains SSH, SCP, and SFTP clients.

All O/S's: For other SSH and SFTP clients (and servers):

see http://linuxmafia.com/ssh/
PuTTY, a commonly used SSH for Windows and Unix

File transfer isn't only FTP; it is built into other types of applications.

Do you use a Web authoring tool to transfer Web files between your personal computer and tigger or icarus, which are www.uic.edu and www2.uic.edu? As with all file transfer, your Web authoring tool must use SFTP or SCP to work with tigger or icarus.

Unfortunately, many Web authoring tools only support FTP. If you use one of those tools, as you update files, you will have to save the files to your disk and use a separate SFTP application to upload them and to set the appropriate permissions. The SFTP applications supported by the ACCC are drag-and-drop, so that shouldn't be too much of an annoyance.

Dreamweaver is an exception; it has supported SFTP since Dreamweaver MX 2004. Dreamweaver is available on the machines in the ACCC public computer labs.

How to configure a Dreamweaver 8 site to use SFTP:

1. From the Dreamweaver menu, select Site -> Manage Sites....
2. Highlight the site that you want to change and click Edit....
3. On the Advanced tab, click Remote Info on the left hand side.
4. Select Access: FTP, and click: Secure FTP (SFTP).
5. Click OK, Done.

File Permissions

The good news is that the files you upload will have the following permissions: User: read and write, Group: read, Other: read. (In other words, Read all, Write user.) The bad news is that you won't be able to use Dreamweaver's Set Permissions to change them.

But the good news is that Read all, Write user is good for Web files. If you are uploading files into departmental or other unit directories and you want Group write, don't worry. The ACCC has a daemon that walks the Web directories overnight and fixes the permissions on Web files. It will add Group write to the file overnight.

• Do you use Windows, Mac, or Linux?
• What SSH or SFTP program are you using?
• Can you connect?
• What error message do you get?