ProductiveLinux reader/listener Ken wrote in about a week ago with a couple really cool SSH tips.

1) Use ssh-add and ssh-agent for password-less logins. I think this is pretty sweet. Basically, if physical access to your workstation is pretty secure, this lets you logon to your remote box via ssh and only have to enter your password once. Nice. From the Kernel-Panic.Org Wiki:

ssh-agent is a program to hold private keys used for public key authentication (RSA, DSA). The idea is that ssh-agent is started in the beginning of an X-session or a login session, and all other windows or programs are started as clients to the ssh-agent program. The agent initially does not have any private keys. Keys are added using ssh-add.

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2) Use SSHFS to create a seamless filesystem experience. Now this is one I’m really interested in, because as soon as I can afford it and it’s practical, I’ll be setting up a home file-server (that may double as a MythTV backend). Check this out from Wikipedia:

SSHFS (Secure SHell FileSystem) is a file system for Linux (and other operating systems with a FUSE implementation, such as Mac OS X or FreeBSD) capable of operating on files on a remote computer using just a secure shell login on the remote computer…The practical effect of this is that the end user can seamlessly interact with remote files being securely served over SSH just as if they were local files on his/her computer.

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Anybody else have some killer SSH tips?

Thanks, Ken!