feature-full ssh gui?

feature-full ssh gui?

[urgrue]

is there any decent ssh gui/front-end available?
one that would perhaps allow something like:
-built-in sz/rz support
-saving of passwords
-execute certain commands/scripts upon login

so, basically, something like secureCRT but for linux...

Re: feature-full ssh gui?

[Scott Taylor]

At 03:32 AM 1/24/03, you wrote:
>is there any decent ssh gui/front-end available?

xterm

>one that would perhaps allow something like:
>-built-in sz/rz support

scp?

>-saving of passwords

ssh can be setup to bypass passwords.

>-execute certain commands/scripts upon login

.bashrc

/etc/profile

>so, basically, something like secureCRT but for linux...

SecureCRT tries to mimic all the wonderful tools you have in unices, not 
the other way around.  Linux just has the tools and if you must use a GUI 
client then xterm should do the job for you.  Otherwise you could set up 
wine to run SecureCRT. {shudder}

Scott.

Re: feature-full ssh gui?

[urgrue]

>SecureCRT tries to mimic all the wonderful tools you have in unices, not 
>the other way around.  Linux just has the tools and if you must use a GUI 
>client then xterm should do the job for you.  Otherwise you could set up 
>wine to run SecureCRT. {shudder}

well frankly i dont care at all about GUI. i care about features and doing 
the job the most efficient way possible. although in general its undeniable 
that linux's tools far exceed those of windows, there are some exceptions. 
sadly securecrt is a lot more capable and efficient than using xterm for 
ssh, and im surprised anyone would even argue against that. here's answers 
to your suggestions:

>>-built-in sz/rz support
>scp?

i routinely have to log into one box to reach another. this is a common 
situation that should be familiar to most people on this list, anyone with 
a firewall, for example. scp would require me to copy the file first to the 
gateway and then from there to its final destination, as the two end points 
cant reach each other. thats annoying and unnecessary. all the tools are in 
place to get around it, but nobody has bothered to make xterm or anything 
else (that ive found) zmodem-aware.
thats not to even mention the difference in hassle-level between:
scp /some/path/file user@host:/somewhere/else
sz /some/path/file (rz automagically invoked by client)

>ssh can be setup to bypass passwords.

yes it can. but wouldnt it be convenient to also just be able to save the 
password, and not have to go about the hassle of copying your public key?
i mean how's this:
ssh --save-pass root@host
vs
scp /root/.ssh/identity.pub root@host:/root
ssh host
cat /root/identity.pub >> /root/.ssh/known_hosts
rm /root/identity.pub
ctrl-d

gee yeah, much better.

>>-execute certain commands/scripts upon login
>.bashrc
>/etc/profile

well thats not very convenient. whatever is in .bashrc or profile is run 
every time. i might not want that.
maybe what i want would be to be able to click on "hostname" in my gui 
client for a normal login, or "hostname-dothis" for the times when i want 
to login, have it "dothis", whatever that might be, and after that command 
is completed, leave me at the prompt. doesnt have to be gui though, of course.

dont get me wrong, i love the flexibility of linux, and i strongly dislike 
windows' rigidity. and absolutely definitely the quantity and quality of 
features and customization possibilities vastly exceeds that found in windows.
i have just often run into situations and programs that are peculiarly 
under-developed. they stand out even more against the plethora of well 
thought-out and customizable programs under linux.
maybe the main reason this bugs me so much is that its all already been 
done, the coding effort would probably be all of fifteen minutes of work, 
especially the password and execute-script parts. auto-rz might require a 
bit more.
another example is locate, which is so staggeringly primitive i cant even 
tell it whether im looking for a file or directory, and instead have to use 
very unnecessary greps to make its output even vaguely useful.

Re: feature-full ssh gui?

[Jeff Largent]

Instead of setting up ssh to bypass passwords, set it up to
use ssh-agent and ~/.ssh/authorized_hosts.  You can start
the agent at login, it asks for your ssh passphrase verifies
it againt the keys, when you ssh to a host if your pub key is
in the authorized_hosts file the agent will provide the authenication.



Scott Taylor wrote:
> At 03:32 AM 1/24/03, you wrote:
> 
>> is there any decent ssh gui/front-end available?
> 
> 
> xterm
> 
>> one that would perhaps allow something like:
>> -built-in sz/rz support
> 
> 
> scp?
> 
>> -saving of passwords
> 
> 
> ssh can be setup to bypass passwords.
> 
>> -execute certain commands/scripts upon login
> 
> 
> .bashrc
> 
> /etc/profile
> 
>> so, basically, something like secureCRT but for linux...
> 
> 
> SecureCRT tries to mimic all the wonderful tools you have in unices, not 
> the other way around.  Linux just has the tools and if you must use a 
> GUI client then xterm should do the job for you.  Otherwise you could 
> set up wine to run SecureCRT. {shudder}
> 
> Scott.
> 
> 
> -
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> 
> 

-- 
Jeff Largent                   ImageLinks, Inc.
Sr System Admin                Melbourne, Fl 32935
(321) 253-0011                 fax:(321) 253-5559

Re: feature-full ssh gui?

[Keith Morse]

On Fri, 24 Jan 2003, urgrue wrote:

> is there any decent ssh gui/front-end available?
> one that would perhaps allow something like:
> -built-in sz/rz support
> -saving of passwords
> -execute certain commands/scripts upon login
> 
> so, basically, something like secureCRT but for linux...

Having read the five replies to your original posts, the following 
thoughts come to mind.



> -built-in sz/rz support

	It would seem to me that the destination host sshd would have to 
	support this (I'm probably wrong though).

> -saving of passwords
	
	Generally takes the form of plain text files.  Certainly bad form
	at the very least.  I really urge you to take a look at keys, 
	ssh-agent and keyforwarding.  This makes ssh life quite pleasant.


> -execute certain commands/scripts upon login
	
	.bashrc or .bash_profile are not sufficient for your needs? (or 
	their equivalents for other shells)


Well barring all that, take a look at kermit
	
	www.columbia.edu/kermit


I believe it addresses all the concerns you laid out above.

Re: feature-full ssh gui? FOUND!

[urgrue]

> > -built-in sz/rz support
> 	It would seem to me that the destination host sshd would have to
> 	support this (I'm probably wrong though).

i dont know about the internals of all this, but i would assume that it 
would be enough if xterm or whatever supported it.
all it needs to do is "take over" the output and the input, sshd can 
continue to think its normal input/output.
i thought that was sort of the whole point of zmodem, that it could 
work over/through almost anything.

> > -saving of passwords
> 	 
> 	Generally takes the form of plain text files.  Certainly bad 
> form
> 	at the very least.  I really urge you to take a look at keys,
> 	ssh-agent and keyforwarding.  This makes ssh life quite 
> pleasant.

yes, granted, saving passwords means they are saved somewhere. doesnt 
have to be plain text though, but yes this would be a security concern 
in some situations.
but this should be up to the user shouldnt it?

> Well barring all that, take a look at kermit
> 	www.columbia.edu/kermit
> I believe it addresses all the concerns you laid out above.

oh man, what can i say. kermit looks BEAUTIFUL. it looks like it does 
everything i need, and as an added benefit theres that nostalgia 
factor. kermit has really grown up while nobody was watching (well not 
me anyway). thanks!

*sniff* <wipes nostalgic tear> "you've come a long way, baby..."

Re: feature-full ssh gui? FOUND!

[Milan P. Stanic]

On Tue, Jan 28, 2003 at 11:08:55AM +0200, urgrue wrote:
> > > -built-in sz/rz support
> > 	It would seem to me that the destination host sshd would have to
> > 	support this (I'm probably wrong though).


http://zssh.sourceforge.net/

Description

zssh (Zmodem SSH) is a program for interactively transferring files to
a remote machine while using the secure shell (ssh). It is intended
to be a convenient alternative to scp , allowing to transfer files
without having to open another session and re-authenticate oneself.

For Debian users it is in the unstable.

Milan