Re: Editing remote *nix files from Windows?

[snoopy]

Another possibility is to map a network drive via ssh on Windows.

The drive can be mapped via Putty.

There are several other approaches, including Dokan (a FUSE emulation for Windows).

Update: Thanks afoken, good point!

• The Putty solution requires that a local Samba service is running on the remote machine. This is then tunnelled via ssh back to the Windows machine.
• The Dokan and other FUSE family solutions are a different animal. These run directly over ssh and should be able to be used on just about any *nix machine that's serving ssh, without prior setup.

[afoken]

Nice trick, but it requires Samba or the like on the remote unix machine installed and running -- something that rarely happens on a machine connected directly to the internet, and for a good reason.

Alexander

[afoken]

Hmmm, things I forgot to write last time:

• PuTTY comes with some very useful helper programs:

  PAgent

  A key agent, so you don't need to enter your password a billion times a day. Enter the key pass phrase once Windows loads PAgent, and PuTTY will be able to use the key without any prompts.

  PSCP

  A simple command line scp client, sufficient for small batch jobs or perl scripts. Can use PuTTYs saved sessions and the keys from PAgent.

  PSFTP

  A command line sftp (not FTP!) client, sufficient for occasional file transfers. Like PSCP, it can use saved sessions and the keys from PAgent.

  PLink

  A command line ssh client, "PuTTY without the terminal emulator". Usually called from batch jobs or scripts to invoke remote programs or to create an SSH tunnel.

  PuTTYGen

  A ssh key generator, uses its own format and can export / import OpenSSH and ssh.com formats

• There is a companion program called WinSCP, it can import PuTTYs sessions and can use the keys from PAgent. Basically, it is a graphical SCP and SFTP client, but can also talk plain old FTP. Recent versions also have a very limited command line window (without full terminal emulation) and a useable text editor for remote files. It can behave either like a Windows Explorer window or like a graphical clone of the Norton Commander.
• From lots of experience, I would recommend to create a private key, export it to the remote system, and DISABLE password logins via SSH on the remote system. A nice side effect is that you don't have to type passwords any more, but the real benefit is that no one will be able to login via SSH to the remote machine, even if he correctly guesses login and password.

Alexander