SSH typically enables a user to securely connect to and run a shell (command line interpreter) on a remote Linux/UNIX computer. Since MacOS is really a UNIX-based operating system, we run a Terminal application which provides us with a local shell, and then run an SSH program at the command prompt to connect us to the remote machine.

To open a terminal, do the following:

1. Open Finder and navigate to Applications.
2. In Applications, navigate to Utilities.
3. Find Terminal and double-click it.

Once you have a Terminal open, simply type:

ssh username@hostname

Where username is your MCECS username, and hostname is a valid MCECS Linux computer. You will usually be prompted for your password on the remote host and you will then be communicating with a shell on that machine.

For example, the user user would ssh into the host ada.cs.pdx.edu by typing the following:

ssh user@ada.cs.pdx.edu