What is shell access and how do I give access to someoe for it?

Guys-

What exactly is shell access and how do I get or give access to someone for this?

 

I guess you're telling about ssh, telnet, rsh or similar.
Is a way of gaining access to your server allowing users to launch SO (system operative) commands from a window on your PC:
- If you're familiar with UNIX. You'll get a shell to lauch commands
- If you're familiar with WINDOWS. It's like the MS-DOS window.

 

Well, I do remember MS-DOS command (that black screen?) way back in the 90s

But I"m not sure how I give access to someone for that?

 

Do you have your own dedicated server, or another hosting service that allows even you shell access? Most do not even have shell access to give in the first place.

 

driven,

It depends on the control panel your web host uses... do you run your own server? What control panel software does it use?

Typically there will be an option to enable "SSH shell" (one called /usr/bin/bash is a popular linux shell) for the FTP user of a domain... PuTTY is a popular one-.exe-file SSH shell client you can use to connect. I recommend Googling for "SSH shell basics" or "bash shell basics" if you do this to prevent messing anything up.

Regards

 

Guys,
I have cpanel as on my hosting account but I could not find anything related to shell there. I guess if they don't have shell, as Grim said, then a cpanel will suffice?

 

you can enable if you have your own server, many hosting companies restrict ssh access on their hosting accounts so check with your provider if they have it enabled for you, but i doubt it.

 

You can see a option in WHM on the left panel after you're logged in as root.

Manage Shell Access under Account Functions

 

dont give access or root password.If you want some1 to work at shell search for "screen" "man screen"

 

Don't give shell access to your server or it will be hacked immediately: to send emails, store illegal files, etc.

 

Dont give the shell access to some one .. else he/she will make your server junk.

 

I logged into my WHM and see Account Functions but I don't see "manage shell access". below are the links that are listed there;

Create a New Account
Limit Bandwidth Usage
Modify Suspended Account Page
Modify an Account
Password Modification
Quota Modification
Skeleton Directory
Suspend/Unsuspend an Account
Terminate an Account
Upgrade/Downgrade an Account

 

Guys, since I shouldn't give shell access, then I guess the only other way is to give someone access my cpanel of my domain? because they would need to do some work on my website.

 

You can give shell access if you trust the person but you must understand that they can can mess up your server, even with a restricted user account (such as is the case when you enable it for an FTP user). The question is do they need administrator / root shell access? This is the highest access you can give and gives them all the power they need to do bad things to you and all of your sites without any need at all for special hacking programs.

What is their reason for requiring shell access? I could see it being used for something like a global search and replace or server configuration...

I don't have a cPanel server of my own but have used it a lot. Try googling for this to figure out exactly where you can enable shell access:

enable shell access cpanel

Regards

 

Your web host will be able to tell you if they offer shell access. Most shared hosts don't (mine does), but if you have cPanel, you can run shell commands by installing them as cron jobs, or a PHP script can be written which sends commands to the shell. As others have said, you definitely need to decide how much you trust this person before letting them run shell commands.