SSH and Secure File Transfer
FTP and Telnet are insecure ways of accessing remote systems on the network. Hackers can snip the data passed between computers during FTP/Telnet connections. In particular, they can read a user’s password when one logins a remote system.
For data protection, you are recommended to use a secure way for data transfer called SSH (Secure Shell)/SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol). SSH/SFTP is designed as a replacement for Telnet and is the standard for secure file transfer and remote logins over the Internet. All network traffic is encrypted and optionally compressed to support strong authentication measures for secure communications.
You are advised to use SSH/SFTP client program to access the following remote systems of ITS:
| Remote Server | Purpose |
|---|---|
| web.hku.hk | personal websites (* support SFTP only) |
hpc2015.hku.hk hpc2021.hku.hk | heterogeneous high performance computing (HPC) service (* support SSH only) |
hpc2015-file.hku.hk hpc2021-io1.hku.hk | file transfer between HPC cluster systems and external computers |
| htclogin.hku.hk | high throughput computing (HTC) service |
| vss.hku.hk | streaming of MP4 video files (* support SFTP only) |
Pre-requisites:
If connecting from outside the HKU campus network, staff and students are required to login HKUVPN. Please refer to the following webpage for the procedures:
https://its.hku.hk/kb/hkuvpn-connection-with-2fa/
If connecting within the HKU campus network, HKUVPN login is not required.
Configuration Procedures:
The following are procedures on how to make SSH/SFTP connection:
- SSH (Secure Shell) with Putty – for running commands on remote system
- SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) with CoreFTP – for uploading/downloading files to/from remote system
- SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) with FileZilla for Mac OS X – for uploading/downloading web pages to/from remote system
- SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) with FireZilla for Windows – for uploading/downloading web pages to/from remote system