Server Admin and Monitor using SSH

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Level 1

38 points

Server Admin and Monitor using SSH

Hi All,

I have a server who's ports for the normal Server Admin application are blocked by the company firewall. But I can ssh in to the server on the command line with no problems.

I notice that Server Admin.app has an option to "Connect to Server with SSH..."

But this option is grayed out.

Does anyone know how to tell Server Admin to use SSH over port 22 instead of whatever port it usually uses?

Thanks

Several, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Jul 25, 2010 11:38 AM

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Answer 1

foilpan

Level 4

1,385 points

Jul 25, 2010 3:36 PM in response to Kirk

what are your goals -- just to use serveradmin to check on stuff?

i've never seen the option to connect server admin via ssh. is it present in 10.6 tools, or was this something specific to the 10.4 tools?

you could do a number of things.

off the top of my head, here are some:

1. ssh to the server and use the serveradmin command line utility to check status, change settings, etc. it does all the same as the gui app.

2. use ssh to forward ports to your machine so you can run server admin locally. you're limited to tcp ports, but i don't think server admin uses udp anyway.

3. use ssh to setup reverse vnc to share the whole screen.

4. ask the network admins to give you vpn access so you don't need to deal with port forwarding.

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Answer 2

Kirk Author

Level 1

38 points

Jul 25, 2010 3:54 PM in response to foilpan

foilpan wrote:
what are your goals -- just to use serveradmin to check on stuff?

Two things:
1. use the server status dashboard widget to check on things
2. use the ServerAdmin gui without having to log into my vpn first.

i've never seen the option to connect server admin via ssh. is it present in 10.6 tools, or was this something specific to the 10.4 tools?

It is in the gear menu at the bottom of the server list, this is the 10.6 tools. As I said, I've never seen it in anything but a grayed out state. I wouldn't even be asking this question if that menu item didn't exist, since all the functions are available in other, slightly less convenient ways already.

I guess the answer is that the menu item is either broken or intended to do something else (though I can't imagine what)

you could do a number of things.

off the top of my head, here are some:

1. ssh to the server and use the serveradmin command line utility to check status, change settings, etc. it does all the same as the GUI app.

Right, this is what I do now.

2. use ssh to forward ports to your machine so you can run server admin locally. you're limited to tcp ports, but i don't think server admin uses udp anyway.

I've thought of this one too, but haven't tried it yet. More trouble than (1).

3. use ssh to setup reverse vnc to share the whole screen.

It is just as easy to log into the VPN ad do VNC directly. Also more trouble than (1)

4. ask the network admins to give you vpn access so you don't need to deal with port forwarding.

Already doing this, as stated above.

Thanks for the ideas.

Kirk

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Answer 3

foilpan

Level 4

1,385 points

Jul 25, 2010 4:13 PM in response to Kirk

ah, right. i checked the "connect via ssh" option just now, and it doesn't do what you want. it flips to terminal to establish a ssh connection. to enable it, select a host first from the list.

setting up reverse ssh connections isn't much trouble, but it's definitely easier to use the vpn connection you already have available.

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