Arch Linux

jamtat

Member

Registered: 2008-03-13

Posts: 224

Pointers on enabling intermittent ssh/ftp connections to laptop?

Maybe because of systemd changes that I am so far not understanding terribly well, or because of age-related mental decline--or a combination of the two--I'm having trouble figuring out how to allow occasonal remote access to my laptop. That access could be either via ftp or ssh, the main requirement being that I be able to browse and sometimes copy files to/from the laptop, and to easily turn the server functionality on/off.

I don't need the laptop to act as a server on any sort of regular basis. Usually I'm using it away from home on potentially insecure networks, so I'd like for server functionality to be turned off most of the time. But I do sometimes, when at home, connect the laptop to my LAN (wifi, usually) and want to browse its file and/or, as I said, copy files to/from, it. So some sort of lightweight and simple ssh or ftp server that can be started manually, then stopped manually, is what I'm aiming for. Since, as I presently envision it, the server functionality will be off most of the time and, when on, will be on a trusted network, I don't intend to use key pairs for authentication: I believe username/password authentication should suffice for my use scenario.

I've been trying to get dropbear running, since I do have at least some experience with it. But I am so far not meeting with success. Can anyone offer me any pointers on setting up some sort of simple ssh/ftp server utility that can be turned on and off manually on this laptop? Input will be appreciated.

PS I've looked over the wiki article on ssh but it's hard to identify relevant information for my scenario since that article is geared toward setting up full-time server systems. Like I said, one of my main aims is to be able to turn on/off the server functionality as needed.

ewaller

Administrator

From: Pasadena, CA

Registered: 2009-07-13

Posts: 19,791

Re: Pointers on enabling intermittent ssh/ftp connections to laptop?

sftp on the client side.   Windows, use WinSCP
sshd on the server side. It is a systemd service and can be started/stoped with systemctl

Automating the start/stop is left as an exercise for the reader.

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jamtat

Member

Registered: 2008-03-13

Posts: 224

Re: Pointers on enabling intermittent ssh/ftp connections to laptop?

Thanks for the pointers, ewaller. Using sshd was definitely the path of least resistance. The default config seems to be set up for username/password authentication. So it was just a matter of running systemctl start sshd.service and systemctl stop sshd.service. Not sure why dropbear was not functioning for me but I have very limited time to devote to this at the moment so will not attempt any troubleshooting for now and will just be sticking with sshd.