If you have two computers on your own network you can setup an SSH server on a Mac via System Preferences quite easily, or if you’re savvy with Terminal you can enable SSH through the command line too, and try this out for yourself.* How to Use the SSH Client on MacĪssuming you have the remote server IP and the remote username handy, here’s all you need to do to connect via SSH in Mac OS and Mac OS X: Using ssh is considered somewhat advanced and typically useful for remote systems administration, shell activity, server management, and other command line activity. You can use the SSH client in Mac OS to connect to any other machine with an SSH server running, whether it’s on another Mac with Mac OS X, linux, unix, or Windows computer does not matter, as long as it has an SSH server running it and you have credentials, it can be connected to securely.

Some quick background for the unfamiliar SSH stands for Secure SHell, and it permits making encrypted connections into other computers over a network or the broader internet.

Let’s walk through how to make an SSH connection into another computer using the native ssh client in Mac OS.

Ssh for mac os x