Introduction
Below is the instruction on how to use the free application: Putty to log into your Linux server via SSH.
Procedure
To use PuTTY to connect to your server via SSH, perform the following steps:
1. Download and install the PuTTY client.
2. From the Windows Start menu, open the client.
3. In the Session interface, enter the hostname or IP address of the server in the Host Name (or IP address) text box (for example, 192.0.2.0).
4. Enter the port number in the Port text box (for example, 22).
5. Select the SSH protocol.
6. Click Open.
7. Enter your username (If you are logging in as root, type: root if you are using cPanel user, enter the cPanel username).
8. Enter your account’s password.
To log in to a server via SSH with PuTTY and a public key, perform the following steps:
1. From the Windows Start menu, open the client.
2. Navigate to the PuTTY Key Generator interface.
3. Under the Actions heading, click Generate. PuTTY will generate the key and display the result under the Key menu.
4. Copy the public key and paste it in the .ssh/authorized_keys file.
5. Enter a passphrase in the Key passphrase and Confirm passphrase text boxes.
6. Click Save private key and save the key as a .ppk file.
7. In the Session interface, from the Saved Sessions menu, select your preferred authorization session, and click Load.
8. Navigate to the Auth interface under the SSH category.
9. Click Browse, select the private key file to upload, and click Open.
10. Navigate to cPanel’s Manage SSH Keys interface (Home >> Security >> SSH Access >> Manage SSH Keys) and import the server’s keys.