# PuTTY question



## Guest (Apr 28, 2008)

I use just the standard PuTTY for a SSH client, but I always wondered what all those other kinds are on the download page (http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html):

PSCP 
PuTTYtel
Plink
Pageant
PuTTYgen 

The descriptions given for them don't mean that much to me, and if I look at the docs I'll probably get confuzzled, so, short and sweet, what are they and how are they used?

I probably know what PSFTP is, because I know what SFTP is (I have a SFTP client).


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## lharvey (Jul 1, 2003)

I haven't used Putty in years.

I will look at that later today and try to get back to you. Be patient.

L


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

* PuTTY (the Telnet and SSH client itself)
* PSCP (an SCP client, i.e. command-line secure file copy)
* PSFTP (an SFTP client, i.e. general file transfer sessions much like FTP)
* PuTTYtel (a Telnet-only client)
* Plink (a command-line interface to the PuTTY back ends)
* Pageant (an SSH authentication agent for PuTTY, PSCP and Plink)
* PuTTYgen (an RSA and DSA key generation utility).


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## Guest (Apr 28, 2008)

Gary in ohio said:


> * PuTTY (the Telnet and SSH client itself)
> * PSCP (an SCP client, i.e. command-line secure file copy)
> * PSFTP (an SFTP client, i.e. general file transfer sessions much like FTP)
> * PuTTYtel (a Telnet-only client)
> ...


Well, like I said, the descriptions don't mean much.

I know what *PuTTY (the Telnet and SSH client itself)* is, that's the one I use.

I can make an intelligent guess what *PSFTP (an SFTP client, i.e. general file transfer sessions much like FTP)* is, I use a SFTP client so I assume it's about the same.

But what the heck are those other ones?

The reason I'm asking is because I'm wondering if they're anything I should be using.


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## Guest (Apr 28, 2008)

Hmmmmmm, I downloaded PSFTP and it is NOT like the SFTP client I'm used to. It looks like my computer's telnet thing. I logged into a server with it and got in, but no clues what to do next.

I'm going to d/l PSCP and see what that's like.


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## Guest (Apr 28, 2008)

How do you open PSCP? When I click to open it, I see something flash briefly and then nothing.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

* PuTTY (the Telnet and SSH client itself)
This is the terminal program, allows telnet, ssh or rlogin

* PSCP (an SCP client, i.e. command-line secure file copy)
This implements the scp SSH copy command, its a command line (dos prompt)
command. Scp local file remote_machine:remote dir, it copies files between machines encrypted.

* PSFTP (an SFTP client, i.e. general file transfer sessions much like FTP)
Just a ftp client the uses encryption. 


* PuTTYtel (a Telnet-only client)
A telnet only version of putty.

* Plink (a command-line interface to the PuTTY back ends)
Allows you to script putty functions from the command line.

* Pageant (an SSH authentication agent for PuTTY, PSCP and Plink
* PuTTYgen (an RSA and DSA key generation utility).
These two work togeather to create a valid key and allow SSH keys to be passed between machines.


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## lharvey (Jul 1, 2003)

Yep

Gary hit it on the head. Like I said, it's been years since I've used PuTTy

L


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

putty is a great program. I use it every day, Have 5-10 putty windows running most of the time.


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## Guest (Apr 28, 2008)

Gary in ohio said:


> I use it every day, Have 5-10 putty windows running most of the time.


I seldom have more than 2 open at a time.

But it is great. And addictive.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2008)

Gary in ohio said:


> * PSFTP (an SFTP client, i.e. general file transfer sessions much like FTP)
> Just a ftp client the uses encryption.


It's not like any FTP client I ever saw.

I have the SFTP client from ssh.com and it's like FTP.

But the PSFTP I downloaded from putty looks like the telnet client on my computer.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2008)

Here's what I mean.

This is the SFTP client I've been using for years:











This is the one I downloaded today from putty:











That second one is not like any SFTP or FTP I ever saw.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Your confusing the GUI with the protocol. sftp is a protocol, how you wrap it for the user is entirely up to the program, one is a gui based, one is command line.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2008)

Gary in ohio said:


> Your confusing the GUI with the protocol. sftp is a protocol, how you wrap it for the user is entirely up to the program, one is a gui based, one is command line.


That is a completely new concept to me. :shrug:

I thought FTP (including Secure FTP) went hand in hand with GUI.

I have no clue how to use a command line SFTP. Until this minute I didn't know it existed.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

ladycat said:


> That is a completely new concept to me. :shrug:
> 
> I thought FTP (including Secure FTP) went hand in hand with GUI.
> 
> I have no clue how to use a command line SFTP. Until this minute I didn't know it existed.


You've used wget at the linux command line, haven't you?


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

GUI is just "graphical user interface", and has little to do with any particular program - its just an interface. 

Although a GUI is sometimes nice, some folks prefer the "command line" version of things. Lots of folks in the Linux and Unix world still use and prefer a non-gui interface. Why? Speed, convenience, familiarity... who knows.

Bottom line is to use whatever works for you - there are many ways to accomplish a task. If you use/know a GUI based ftp program to get the files from point A to point B, then learning a non-gui ftp program really accomplishes nothing for you.

.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2008)

Nevada said:


> You've used wget at the linux command line, haven't you?


Yep.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

ladycat said:


> Yep.


Oh forget it. On second thought I think wget uses the http file transfer protocol.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2008)

Nevada said:


> Oh forget it. On second thought I think wget uses the http file transfer protocol.


Oh darn, you had me hopeful for a bit.  I thought maybe I could do something like: 

wget <path_to_my_computer_file> <path_to_server_directory> 

Maybe with a "move" stuck in there somewhere.


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## Guest (Apr 29, 2008)

Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure that you are correct, and that indeed wget _does_ use the http file transfer protocol.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

With close to 30 years as a Unix shell user, Much of it when GUI didnt exist, I can do things as fast in command line as I can with a mouse. I manage close to 300 unix/linux servers now and NONE of them even have a monitor and most dont even have X loaded to allow a GUI.


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