You can use it with the Secure Socket Shell Protocol, or Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) to log in, execute commands, and manage data securely between computers using an encrypted connection.<\/p>
This also includes logging into your server to transfer, execute, and otherwise manage the files and folders on your website at lightning speeds.<\/p>
Today, I\u2019ll share how to use the command line and SSH to manage your website as well as more detail on what they are, and the requirements to use them.<\/p>
What is the Command Line<\/h2>
To understand what the command line is, exactly, it\u2019s essential to first know about the command prompt, and Command-Line Interface, what a command is as well as the apps you need to use them to manage your website, or network.<\/p>
A Command-Line Interface (CLI) is a user interface (UI) that\u2019s text based. It\u2019s typically a program with a black, or white background. You type commands into it to manage files and folders on a computer, or server.<\/p> Windows has a CLI called Command Prompt and for Mac computers, there\u2019s the Terminal.app. Both are pre-installed. You can use one of them, and there are also other options available such as PuTTY<\/a>.<\/p> Here\u2019s where things get a little confusing: The command prompt can also be used to describe the symbol or series of characters that appear in the CLI and asks \u2013 or prompts \u2013 the user to enter a command. It\u2019s sometimes referred to as a \u201cprompt.\u201d<\/p> A command is an instruction that the user types into the CLI that they want executed. This can be creating and naming a file or folder, transferring files, moving them, editing them, and many other options.<\/p> A command line is the line or space that appears after the prompt where the user can type a command.<\/p> If that\u2019s not confusing enough already, try this on for size: \u201cCommand Line\u201d is often used to refer to a CLI, especially for Linux operating systems.<\/p> Secure Shell or Secure Socket Shell (SSH) is a protocol used to securely connect to an otherwise insecure computer, or server.<\/p> It uses cryptography to provide strong authentication methods to determine that a computer or server you\u2019re trying to connect to is legitimate, and actually where you meant to connect.<\/p> It also uses encryption to secure the connection between your computer and the destination.<\/p> It\u2019s a successor to Telnet, rlogin, and rsh. It securely replaces all of these other protocols which were prominently used in the 1990\u2019s. It\u2019s now best practise to use SSH over these other options.<\/p> You can enable SSH when you use the command line to ensure your connection is secure and your data is safe.<\/p> \u201cSSH\u201d is also used among web developers in casual conversations to refer to using the command line with SSH.<\/p> The command line is intended to be used with Unix-like distributions such as Linux. But, you can still use it on Windows if you install OpenSSH<\/a>.<\/p> The April 2018 update for Windows 10<\/a> also automatically has OpenSSH installed and enabled so you don\u2019t have to do anything else to use the Command Prompt to connect to your site\u2019s server.<\/p> If you\u2019re using a different version of Windows, you can also choose to use PuTTY, or you can use it instead of the updated Command Prompt since it has a user-friendly Graphical User Interface (GUI) that can help you use the command line more efficiently.<\/p> To access the Command Prompt, press CTRL and R on your keyboard, type \u201ccmd\u201d into the text field, (without quotation marks) and press the Enter key.<\/p> If you have a Mac, you can use the Terminal app that\u2019s inherently available. You can find it in your Applications > Utilities<\/strong> folder, or you can search for it by name using the Launchpad app. Either way, it\u2019s labelled as \u201cTerminal.app.\u201d<\/p> Other than these basic requirements, you also need to have SSH enabled on your server. Depending on your host, or hosting plan, you may not have SSH available such as for shared servers and hosting plans. SSH is typically made available on VPS, dedicated, managed, and some cloud servers.<\/p> If you\u2019re unsure of whether you can use SSH to connect to your site\u2019s server, check with your hosting provider. They can also guide you through enabling it since most hosts vary slightly, or a great deal when it comes to their control panels.<\/p> Other than those basic requirements, there are other tools and options that are commonly used with the command line.<\/p> For example, it\u2019s incredibly common to come across tutorial after tutorial that already assumes you have these pre-installed, or updated to the latest version. In most cases, most of these are already set up on your server, but you can ask your host if you\u2019re unsure.<\/p> Here are a few common tools that you\u2019ll often need:<\/p> Keep in mind that this is by no means a complete list, but it should give you a good idea of what to expect and look for when you learn how to use the command line and SSH.<\/p> To use the command line, there are some key things you need to connect to your site\u2019s server:<\/p> Typically, these can all can be found before, or after logging into your account with your hosting provider.<\/p> The username for servers can often be \u201croot,\u201d but this isn\u2019t always the case so be sure to double check. The username and password typically is the same as your credentials to log into your web host account. This isn\u2019t always the case so when in doubt, contact your host.<\/p> Commonly, port number 22 is used in most cases, but this also isn\u2019t always the case. You can also check with your host to be sure of which port you should use.<\/p> In cPanel, you can find your IP address on the right-hand side after logging in.<\/p> Once you have noted the credentials you need as listed above, you can go ahead and fire up Command Prompt, the Terminal app, or whatever CLI you want to use.<\/p> Next, type the command below, then press the enter or return key on your keyboard:<\/p>![\"Terminal](\"https:\/\/wp-rocket.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/wp-rocket-terminal-app.jpg\")
What is SSH<\/h2>
How to Use the Command Line: Basic Requirements<\/h2>
How to Use the Command Line: Other Requirements<\/h3>
How to Use the Command Line: What You Need to Connect<\/h3>
![\"You](\"https:\/\/wp-rocket.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/1\/wp-rocket-cpanel-ip-address-ssh.jpg\")
How to Use the Command Line: Logging In<\/h2>