Shell Access for Noobs

Author Message

Cori Roberts

Thursday 02 July 2009 9:27:38 am

So I've been complaining that the documents for EZ publish are WAY too complicated for Joe/Joann User and some of the developer types here post responses without taking this into account.

SO while I'm by no means a developer I am pretty geeky and thought I'd share some things as I learn them and share them in simple terms that the average user can understand. Yesterday I downloaded Lukaz (sorry I think I butchered your name) extension to allow multiple file/image uploads. While his documentation is good it assumes you KNOW what shell access is and how to get to it and so on.

I think everyone here should preface ANY documentation with a warning *assumes you are familiar with shell..or html or CSSes etc* and provide resources on where to find more information on these subjects. As it were, it's very frustrating right now to get your EZ publish running. While I would LOVE to pay the EZ team to develop my site, I simply cannot afford to. I'm running my site with a skeleton crew as it is, so a lot of things fall to ME to take care of. Anyway enough of my ranting. Here are some simple instructions on how to get to your Shell.

1. First, find out if your hosting company/provider offers the option of SSH (Shell) access. Most companies have this option available to you listed under your domain name and can be found by simply logging into your Webpanel or Cpanel depending on your company. IF all else fails, simply send a support message and they will let you know.

2. While waiting on an answer from you hosting company, you'll want to google PuTTy or simply visit openssh.com. Listed on the left side of your screen are several Shell softwares that you'll be able to use. From what I gather PuTTy is the simplest. You'll be selecting the one that best matches your servers operating system. Windows, Mac, Linux..which ever. Once again if not sure about which your hosting provider uses, just add on to your support request.

3. *Now this part assumes you're using PuTTy to gain shell access* At this point you've heard back from your hosting provider and low and behold they said YES you do have Shell access and has either enabled it for you or told you where to find it. Please be aware that some companies will only allow either Shell or FTP. If they have the 3rd option that offers you both, take that one. If you're like me, you'll still want FTP access to your site to be able to play with your CSSes and images and such. If you choose Shell access only you'll only be able to access your files via Shell and vice versa for FTP. So after you get the good news, simply install PuTTy and wait for the screen to pop up. Once the window is open, you'll see several options down the side. If you're not sure WHAT to do, don't click anywhere else just type your domain name where it says Host name (ie yourdomain.com) then select the SSH radio button, name your connection in the box below and then click save.

Once this is done, Double click the name you created and voila! Shell access. Then all you'll need to do is enter your username and password (which is normally the same one you'd use for FTP access) and you're in. Now try to follow instructions you have to run whatever command you'd like. I would recommend just typing it all out...slooooowly.

Good luck!

-Cori

Heath

Thursday 02 July 2009 9:44:45 am

Great forum thread content Cori!

Though threads in forums tend to get buried.

Would you consider perhaps cross-posting your article like content into http://ezpedia.org?

We already have a large number of 'solution / howto' articles, http://ezpedia.org/ez

But we always recommend that you publish content like this to the community wiki where you can build your own article pages and share your own content and information with others freely.

Content like this tends to get buried and harder to find, while ezpedia content stands outs, it is well searchable and indexed (in-site and through google).

Just a request, no worries, what do you think?

Respectfully,
Heath

Brookins Consulting | http://brookinsconsulting.com/
Certified | http://auth.ez.no/certification/verify/380350
Solutions | http://projects.ez.no/users/community/brookins_consulting
eZpedia community documentation project | http://ezpedia.org

Cori Roberts

Thursday 02 July 2009 9:57:55 am

Hi Heath!

I'll do just that in a short bit. Time for more coffee! :)

Heath

Thursday 02 July 2009 10:12:01 am

Wow! Thanks Cori, that's great!

Cheers,
Heaths

Brookins Consulting | http://brookinsconsulting.com/
Certified | http://auth.ez.no/certification/verify/380350
Solutions | http://projects.ez.no/users/community/brookins_consulting
eZpedia community documentation project | http://ezpedia.org

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