how do you use the remote login feature in osx ?

[Nalmar]

in the sharing control panel, there is a checkbox for enabling remote login. How do I use it ?

[alexrd]

"Remote Login" allows you to use ssh to open a remote terminal session. In practical terms this means you can open a terminal on your machine from anywhere in the world.

To see what it looks like from your own machine you can open a terminal and type:
ssh localhost
then enter your password when it asks. After that, you'll be back at the "localhost%" prompt. You'll note that when you logout (exit, ^d, etc...) you have to do it twice, once to get out of the ssh session, and again to get out of the terminal window that you just opened.
Doing it like this isn't very exciting, since it ends up being no different from just opening a terminal window. However, you can do the same thing from any other networked computer in the world by "typing"
ssh hostname
or
ssh ip.ad.dr.ess

I say "typing" because on a non-UNIX machine, or a machine without a command line (OS9 and Windoze jump readily to mind) you will not be typing this in a terminal window but rather launching a ssh client app of some sort (on OS9 I've always used NiftyTelnet or MacSSH, on Windoze... who knows or cares). The basic process, however, remains the same.

Why would you want to do this? Well, If you are comfortable with the UNIX command line this effectively gives you full control of your machine from anywhere... one of the best features of UNIX.

Hope this helps...

-alex.

[julguribye]

I think it is to allow users to remotely connect to your computer via the telnet and other protocolls in a Terminal application like the one in Mac OS X. (root/applications/utilities/terminal)

[twyg]

That's the one reason I use it every day, is to log in so I don't have to get off my lazy bum to repair a machine.

[Ghoser777]

Actually, the telnet port is turned off (is that the right lingo...?), meaing it's disabled. No telneting in, but that's okay becuase telnet is insecure, while ssh is much more secure. You can of course still telnet out, but I wouldn't recomend it. I use scp and ssh all the time to move files between my machines at work and my machine at home. Works like a charm.

F-bacher