OpenSSH is a remote management utility providing access to a linux server’s console (or command line) remotely.

Installing OpenSSH Server and Client will prove very useful when the troubleshooting, support or remote access is needed.

  1. At the Debian GNU/Linux w/ KDE Welcome Screen, chose the “Menu” option in the lower left part of the screen.
  2. In the Menu chose the “Console Login” option. (You Can also simply click ALT+N from the Debian GNU/Linux w/ KDE Welcome Screen, in place of the first two steps in this section. This is a shortcut to the Console or “CONSOLE MODE”.)
  3. At the Login prompt type: “root” and hit the [enter] key.
  4. Type in the Password of the “root” user and hit the [enter] key. You would have set this password up during installation. See our Installing Debian 4 on a PC guide.
  5. Then you will type the following code:
    test:~# apt-get update
    then press the [enter] key. This will download the latest, most up to date installation packages. Do not try to continue until it has completed the package header downloads.
  6. Once all the package headers have been downloaded, type:
    test:~# apt-get install openssh-server
    then press the [enter] key to install the OpenSSH Server packages. You will be get a prompt about being sure. Hit the “Y” key and press the [enter] key to continue. When the installation has completed you will be returned to the # command prompt.
  7. Now type:
    test:~# apt-get install openssh-client
    then press the [enter] key to install the OpenSSH Client packages. You will be get a prompt about being sure. Hit the “Y” key and press the [enter] key to continue. When the installation has completed you will be returned to the # command prompt.
  8. To ensure the OpenSSH Server is running type:
    test:~# shutdown now –r
    to reboot your system. Once you are back to the Debian GNU/Linux w/ KDE Welcome Screen, you should be able to create an SSH connection from a SSH Client on another computer.
  9. Verify that you can create an SSH Connection. Once you have verified you can make a connection via SSH, you can close the connection by typing:
    test:~# exit
    at the # command prompt. and then hitting the [enter] key. This will close the SSH connection and quit/exit the client program.

Portions of these steps were taken from an published article available here.

Congratulations, you have successfully installed OpenSSH Server & Client on your Debian System!


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