Using FTP
FTP, a file transfer mechanism, can't be used for major remote administration but is great for transferring files that you may need on the remote workstation. FTP is not encrypted, but there's an encrypted alternative, SFTP.

Most distributions come with an FTP service that you can install by using the RPM installer. Note that most of the major Linux FTP servers have had major vulnerabilities found, so make sure to get the latest version. If you have an SSH server installed, you can also use SFTP through it.

My favorite file transfer program is FileZilla. It's free and supports both FTP and SFTP. You can download it from the FileZilla Web site. Connecting to your FTP server using FileZilla is fairly simple. You need to fill in the host name to connect to, your username, password, and finally the port, as shown in Figure C. The port to connect to depends on whether you're using FTP or SFTP to connect. FTP is commonly run on port 21, whereas SFTP is on port 22 with SSH.

Figure C

Using FileZilla to connect to your FTP server

Once connected, you can use the FileZilla graphical interface to move files between your local system and the remote system. If you're uploading many files, FileZilla will automatically establish multiple connections to minimise upload or download time.

Using X
Using an X Server to manage a system remotely allows you full graphical access to the remote machine. X is the graphical interface used by most Linux distributions. It can function as both a local and remote graphical server.

There are several ways to establish an X session, but the most secure of these is to connect to your server with SSH or Telnet and spawn back your X window. This method prohibits users that are not authenticated from getting access. X sessions are a fairly secure and very efficient method for managing remote servers. However, many corporate firewalls block outbound X traffic.

Several components are needed to make remote X sessions work. The first of these is an X Server. Linux has the native X Server, but to get a connection on a Windows system, you need an X Server for that as well. Cygwin has an X Server that can be installed, along with support for many other features similar to Linux. You can get Cygwin from Red Hat.

When you install Cygwin, make sure to include the X Server. You also need to have some way to connect to the remote machine (such as using SSH). Once you start Cygwin, you'll get a prompt; just type startx. This will open another window with several local xterms running in it. Now that you have X Server up and listening, you can spawn back windows from your remote server.

The next step is to connect to your server. For the purposes of this article, I'll use PuTTY to connect via SSH and spawn back a shell. To set up PuTTY to automatically forward X requests back to your X Server, go to the SSH | Tunnels configuration option and check the Enable X11 Forwarding option, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D

Enable X11 Forwarding

Connect to the remote host, type xterm, and press [Enter]. After several seconds, a new window will appear in Cygwin's X window. This new window gives you full access to your server. From this window, you can run most applications that you could run locally on the server.

Hand me the remote
Now that you have a good overview of the various remote management techniques for Linux servers, you can choose which one works best for you. Each of the above methods has advantages and disadvantages. The hardest part of remote management is deciding which method suits your purposes. Remember that security must play a major role in your decision.

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