Linux to Linux file browsing

[Edmund Ĺaugasson]

> You could start here:
> http://www.ubuntugeek.com/nfs-server-and-client-configuration-in-ubuntu.html


NFS is cool but SSH works out of the box and is much more easier to set up and is more secure and 
works also over internet:

1) sudo apt-get update
2) sudo apt-get -y install openssh-server

Now you can log in using the same user as log in to linux.

In KDE you can write to the address bar so:
fish://user@IP-address/
.... and can log in.

If you write that remote PC IP-address matching some name into /etc/hosts, then you may use that 
name, e.g.:
192.168.10.2	laptop john
... then both names can be used and first name is default and ping works:

$ ping laptop
PING laptop (192.168.10.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.10.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=59 time=0.06 ms

$ ping john
PING john (192.168.10.2) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.10.2: icmp_seq=1 ttl=59 time=0.06 ms

It's much more comfortable and end-user friendly to use real names instead of complex IP-addresses 
:) But this is not mandatory - you can use IP-addresses as well as names.

SSH needs 22/tcp only to work properly. If you need to use SSH over internet, then you need to do 
divertion into your router is you use one.

It asks SSH key for accept and adds them to the file ~/.ssh/known_hosts
If there will be that key somewhy change - you can just delete all the numbers in this file:
rm -fr ~/.ssh/known_hosts
touch ~/.ssh/known_hosts
.... otherwise you cannot log in over SSH.

SSH works out of the box - after installation you are able log in immediately using local usernames 
and passwords and no configuring is not necessary.

If you need to disable local user and its login over SSH, then you can put /bin/false as shell in 
the file /etc/passwd
Just make sure, that /bin/false exist (ls -l /bin/false) and is also written into file /etc/shells 
which defines valid login shells. If user has /bin/false as its shell, then he/she can still log in 
using FTP but has no shell access like SSH gives.

I suggest to use KDE Wallet to remember users and passwords. So - if you once at first usage have to 
type KWallet password then later it will remember it and programs can take users and passwords easily.

You can type system:/remote/ to the Konqueror's address bar and also remember that address in 
Konqueror's bookmark.

When you use any KDE application, then you can choose that system:/remote/ (Called 'Network places' 
or something like that) in file open, save dialog in any KDE program.

At command line (also in KDE terminal) you can log in using:
ssh user at IP-address
or
ssh -XC user at IP-address
where:
X - enable X11 forward
C - use compression (optional)

Then you can run graphical programs over network from remote machine. E.g.:
konqueror &
.... will run Konqueror from remote PC and you can see remote PC files, do operations with them, etc.

SSH works also over internet (not only in local net) and is highly suggested to use in internet as 
secure replacement for other protocols.

If you would use non-standard port for SSH, then it is good idea and highly suggested to avoid too 
active attacks by hackers.1 At command line in Linux you can e.g. write:
ssh user at IP-address -p xx
ssh -XC user at IP-address-p xx

You need to replace in that example users and numbers with your data.

In Windows you can use puTTY as command line tool and WinSCP as graphical tool:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html - puTTY download
http://winscp.net/ - main page
http://winscp.net/eng/download.php - download. I use then usually "Standalone application" version.

You can use also FTP (e.g. sudo apt-get install vsftpd) but it will not work out of the box (needs 
reconfiguring to enable local users) and is not secure.

Some useful links for further reading:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSHHowto
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/AdvancedOpenSSH
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSHFS
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH_VPN
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VNCOverSSH



Best Regards,
Edmund Laugasson

P.S. mounting windows shares permanently - 
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MountWindowsSharesPermanently