SSH, also known as Secure Shell, is a network protocol that creates a secured channel, which allows data to be transferred and exchanged between two hosts.

Basically, the Internet in its early days was designed to provide ease of use, not security.

SSH substitutes older protocols, such as telnet and rlogin, where passwords were passed in plain text and could be easily intercepted.

You can use SSH in order to connect to a remote machine and execute commands.

For example, you can import a database, find files and edit them.

A server-client environment is used when connecting via SSH. The connection is standardized at TCP port 2222. 

What you need in order to connect is an SSH client software application. PuTTY is one of the most popular.

A server daemon is constantly checking for incoming requests.

So how can you obtain SSH access to your hosting account?

First, check whether SSH is enabled for your web hosting plan – navigate to the Advanced section of your Control Panel and check for the SSH/Shell Access option. If you don’t see this option, it is not included in your web hosting plan.

If it is enabled for your web hosting plan, you will see the SSH/Shell Access option and the status will be either ”Active” or ”Not Active”.

Click on the ”Activate” button.

A message such as the one below indicates that SSH is not included in your web hosting plan:

Your hosting plan type does not allow an additional SSH service to be added! Please refer to the ”Account Usage” table on the left.

You might need to upgrade your plan features by using the ”Add or Upgrade Services” section.

In this case, you can order SSH as an upgrade from the “Add or Upgrade Services” link on the left.

Once you have SSH activated, all you need is an SSH client (e.g. PuTTy), a username and a password.

The username is the same as the one that you use to log into your Control Panel.

The password could be easily set from the Advanced > SSH/Shell Access section.

If you choose to use PuTTy, set the SSH host/server to ssh.supremecenterXX.com (replace XX with the number of the server where your account is located – you can see it in the address bar/URL bar when you are logged into your Control Panel).