New to Linux - Purchased the Course - Now confused!

[Rick Stevens]

Snider, Andy wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> 	We are currently migrating to Linux and have purchased about $3000 dollars worth of courses.
> 
> 	a) My first 'Linux Essentials:The Basics' Course Introduction states I require SSH? to access the lab

ssh (secure shell) is a replacement for the old telnet and rsh programs. 
  Both of the older programs are inherently insecure as they send
everything over the wire in clear text.  ssh encrypts all data
(including the username and password during login) and NOTHING goes over
the wire as cleartext.  ssh can also be used to "tunnel" insecure
traffic inside the encrypted ssh session and thereby lend its security
to insecure traffic (a good example is tunneling X window traffic).

ssh (the client program) and sshd (the server) are included with
virtually all Linux distributions.

> 	b) Under the heading Where can I get the SSH program? ,  It then suggests that SSH client is available for windows 98/NT/95  
> 	
> 		(No Windows 2000 for users waiting to migrate to Linux? )
> 
> 		 followed by the comment
> 
> 		'Freely available on the Internet, you may have to do some digging' ?????

There are any number of Windows 2000 ssh clients.  "putty" is free and
readily available (do a Google search for it).  It's fairly bare bones
(runs in a DOS window), but it does the job.

As for commercial programs, SecureCRT is very good.  It's not horribly
expensive but it is a GUI-based program and possibly easier for your
Windows user to handle.  If you wish to control the GUI of Red Hat from
your Windows machine, take a look at TightVNC (again, google for it).

> 	c) I have looked for the referenced 'Resouces page' I have searched for the RedHats own SSH download 
> 	(surely they must have one if their courses rely on it?) and have, so far, found neither.
> 
> 	
> 	My initial questions are 
> 
> 
> 	1) Is SSH shareware? Do RedHat rely on 'Download.com' etc to facilitate their courses?

OpenSSH (the version that comes with Linux) is free (www.openssh.org).
putty (the Windows client) is also free.  SecureCRT (the other client I
mentioned) is commercial.

> 	2) Where is the web page supplying a RedHat offical support email address (can't find that either!)

If you purchased Linux from RedHat, you should have a minimum 1 year
support agreement with them.  Depending on the license you bought, this
may be limited to email or web support only, but you should have
received instructions on how to access those resources.

Generally, web support from Red Hat is available from this URL:

	https://www.redhat.com/apps/support/

Note that THIS forum is NOT an official Red Hat support site.  While the
occasional Red Hat employee posts here, for the most part, we are just
Red Hat users, like yourself.  Many of us have years of Red Hat and
Linux experience under our belts, but we are NOT Red Hat employees and
can't speak to "official" Red Hat policies.

> 
> 	I am sure Linux is the way forward, but my first impression of RedHats Web site / Elearning,  is pure frustration.

Windows isn't easy, either, first buck out of the chute.  I'm sorry
you've had some issues, but go over the documentation you got from Red
Hat when you purchased the licenses.  I'm sure you can call them at

	USA, North America: 1-888-REDHAT1 (1-888-733-4281)
	Worldwide: +1-919-754-3700

and they're tell you what's available and how to get in touch with
whomever.  In the mean time, keep tuned here and we'll try to help as
much as we can.
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
-                                                                    -
-        Artificial Intelligence usually beats real stupidity.       -
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