[nmglug] ssh confusion

[Akkana Peck]

Tom Ashcraft writes:
> Sure enough! I can ssh into Debian machine from Kubuntu machine.  I can ssh
> into Debian machine from Ubuntu Mate machine.  But connections are refused
> from Debian machine into Kubuntu and Ubuntu Mate and between Kubuntu and
> Ubuntu Mate machines.
> 
> If I remember correctly, when I setup the Debian machine I opted to install
> a server.  But that was months ago and I haven't thought it about since, nor

One way to try to answer questions like this is aptitude search:

% aptitude search ssh | grep server

Admittedly, in this case it gives a fairly long list, so I'll
skip to the chase and tell you the package you want is
openssh-server. If you install it, it should configure itself
so that you'll be able to ssh into that machine.

> So my questions are:
> 
> 1.  Is it not possible to ssh from the machine you are typing at into the
> target/host machine without having a server installed and running on the
> target machine?  

Correct. An ssh server must be running on the remote machine.

> Are there permissions or shares or ports or whatnot that
> need to be configured on the target machines? 

Installing ssh-server should take care of that.

> 2.  Where might general ssh learning time be best spent first?  Any good
> cheat sheets or overviews to recommend? 

I don't know of a specific source, but googling [ssh basics]
finds lots of tutorials, so maybe try some of those and see which
one best fits your learning style. For ssh, tutorials will probably
be more helpful than the man pages.

Many tutorials will include a section on how to set up keys so you
can ssh without a password. While that's certainly useful, I'd
recommend skipping that part for now, until you're more comfortable
with the basics of ssh with a password.

        ...Akkana