this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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Curious what folks are using to organise their remote connections? I liked WinSSHTerm and have tried replacing it with Remote Desktop Manager, but it seems a bit broken (fonts look terrible in a terminal, sftp doesn't work, RDP sort of works, but it's not great).

RDP is not a must. Folders, ssh, key auth, sftp and scp are the main things I'm looking for. Currently considering Remmina but though I would check if ppl have strong views on this topic before trying the next app.

I'm using cinnamon with mint 22.

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[–] foremanguy92_@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 hour ago

Just the old .ssh/config file, works like a charm on all terminals :)

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago

Konsole has an SSH Manager plugin you can enable.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 2 points 6 hours ago

ssh.serverdomain scripts that immediately can do things like turn on the required vpn. In combo with SSH keys and non port 22, it's ideal

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 4 points 16 hours ago

I hear ya on RDP. Sadly I still need to use that at times so reminna is good.

Otherwise, I just use tmux. Colleagues use https://midnight-commander.org/ for SCP and stuff of you like. I prefer simple rsync and whatever but they seem to like it. Something to look into.

[–] Lemmchen@feddit.org 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
[–] flubba86@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

Thanks for the reminder, I always forget about this feature, I should use it more.

[–] thenextguy@lemmy.world 76 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I just use ~/.ssh/config

e.g.

Host website
    Hostname some.hostname.foo
    User bob
    Port 1500
[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And most secondary apps, e.g. git and sshfs, even Gigolo, recognize these aliases. It's the best.

[–] thenextguy@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

And vscode uses them for remote ssh development.

[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is the way. Even if you have a lot, it's not hard to pull up a list of options;

❯ cat ~/.ssh/config | grep 'Host ' | awk '{print $2}'

Or you can make it interactive;

❯ ssh $(cat ~/.ssh/config | grep 'Host ' | awk '{print $2}' | fzf)

ez pz

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Meh. ssh<space><tab><tab> does the same.

Also, useless use of cat. And grep.

awk '/Host / {print $2}' ~/.ssh/config | fzf
[–] elmicha@feddit.org 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Or just use completion: press tab once or twice after the ssh command (and a space). If that doesn't work, install the bash-completion package.

[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 2 points 2 hours ago

Shell completion ftw. Once you grok the double-tab you might start using the terminal more than your filemanager.

[–] gnuplusmatt@reddthat.com 7 points 1 day ago

in my terminal I press ctrl + r and then type the name of the machine

[–] CocaineShrimp@lemm.ee 39 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Not a GUI, but I keep my ~/.ssh/config clean by splitting my configs into folders, and including them in the main ~/.ssh/config.

I have the folder, ~/.ssh/config.d/, and here's what it looks like:

~/.ssh/config.d
.
├── work
│   ├── dev.config
│   ├── staging.config
│   └── prod.config
└── server
    ├── development.config
    ├── containers.config
    ├── home.config
    ├── pis.config
    └── server.config

Then my ~/.ssh/config looks like this:

Include config.d/work/*
Include config.d/server/*
Include config.d/other/*
[–] ashley@lemmy.ca 4 points 8 hours ago

(looks at my 230 line config)

yeah.. maybe

[–] Xanza@lemm.ee 7 points 1 day ago

Oh well that's just sexy. Never knew ssh config recognized Include.

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Cool, I did it with my git config a couple weeks ago, I didn't know you could do it with ssh too.

for those interested:

[include]
path = ~/.config/git/shared.ini
path = ~/.config/git/dev-machine.ini
path = ~/.config/git/aliases.ini
path = ~/.config/git/self.ini
[–] BrilliantantTurd4361@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The reason you are having trouble finding a replacement is because thats not really how the linux world approaches things.

Learn the terminal, scp, ssh (esp key auth if you havent), sshfs, tmux, vim or emacs and you will find you are incredibly effective at modern admin tasks. If you havent already, look into something like saltstack or ansible to make your life even easier.

[–] plumbercraic@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I use those tools already and have been administering Linux/bsd/docker for years. What's new for me is using it as a desktop. The existence of scp, ssh etc dont solve this problem and while I find it interesting to learn how other admins are essentially making their own central console out of these components, it is a bit much seeing commenters insist that this is the same thing, or suggesting that anyone who wants a central console for their remote systems must be somehow incompetent. Sysadmins can have different workflow and tooling preferences.

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Folders, ssh, key auth, sftp and scp are the main things I’m looking for.

suggesting that anyone who wants a central console for their remote systems must be somehow incompetent

IMHO that's exactly what ~/.ssh/config using its Include directive as shown in https://lemmy.ml/post/29858248/18510482

       Include
               Include the specified configuration file(s).  Multiple
               pathnames may be specified and each pathname may contain
               glob(7) wildcards, tokens as described in the “TOKENS”
               section, environment variables as described in the
               “ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES” section and, for user
               configurations, shell-like ‘~’ references to user home
               directories.  Wildcards will be expanded and processed in
               lexical order.  Files without absolute paths are assumed
               to be in ~/.ssh if included in a user configuration file
               or /etc/ssh if included from the system configuration
               file.  Include directive may appear inside a Match or Host
               block to perform conditional inclusion.

from https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man5/ssh_config.5.html

So what I think people are highlighting is not that your need is wrong, rather that you rather than going back to fundamentals (e.g. lower command-line or even configuration here level stuff) you are looking for more complex and specialize tools. That tends to be reasonable in the Windows world where people are often looking for GUI but in Linux, started from Unix and thus CLI, this is a process that will often lead to disappointment. I believe people who are saying things perceived negatively here are pointing out, maybe poorly, a cultural difference that will be problematic in the future, thus why they are insisting.

[–] utopiah@lemmy.ml 1 points 6 hours ago
[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

I've been using Linux for almost 30 years, and I agree with you completely. There should be a plethora of tools to organize SSH hosts, but unfortunately none of them are great, or at least I've never particular gelled with any. I just remember the hostnames and what user I happen to use for each, and copy my keys around, because I jump around between a lot of computers.

I did use SSHwifty for a while because then I could just jump into a browser and go to a webpage with all of them. Dunno why I got away from that, it was handy.

[–] just_another_person@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (18 children)

ssh config? Not sure what you're looking for. Like a list of preconfigured connections?

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[–] suicidaleggroll@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

How about XPipe?

https://xpipe.io/

It can even auto-configure itself by parsing out your ~/.ssh/config so you can keep everything defined there for easy CLI access but also use the GUI when desired.

[–] flubba86@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

+1 for XPipe. This is pretty much exactly what OP is asking for. It also does SSH tunneling, SSH reverse-tunneling, manages connections into containers, and many other things. I'm a big fan.

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XPipe is what I use, supports syncing via git, SSH, sftp, RDP, vnc, etc.. And can manage docker containers too. It also has scripts you can define that automatically work on any SSH connection.

[–] hendrik@palaver.p3x.de 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Uh, I just type ssh or rsync into the terminal and that's it. It's a manageable amount of computers/servers I connect to, so I can remeber their names. Regular ssh stores all the keys or custom ports / IPs in its config. What's the advantage of using some manager?

[–] RandomChain@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I really like Asbru and have been using it for a couple of years. I used Remmina for a little while but never liked its look and feel.

Not too much active development has been going on lately, sadly, but the latest version still works very well.

https://www.asbru-cm.net/

[–] plumbercraic@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago

This looks great - thanks!

[–] Marthirial@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Take a look at PortX. Just installed it today in Windows and Fedora 42. I have a Synchthing server where I store a Veracrypt vault with the public keys.

Remmina is great but no Windows option.

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[–] Valon_Blue@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Use Tabby. It is, by far, the closest to a Linux terminal experience. Likely because it's cross platform. I say this as someone that absolutely despises Windows terminal experiences.

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[–] golden_zealot@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

I just install my keys as needed to the machines and then configure aliases for quick connections. For file transfer with SFTP I'm using Filezilla because its queuing functionality and site management are nice.

I think for what you are looking for, both puTTY and Remmina should be capable as well as the other options suggested here

[–] Peffse@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I'll be watching this discussion, as I'm currently using Remmina. It meet the bare minimum of SSH & RDP, but it doesn't have a clear method to organize connections and instead uses a big list. I also find the interface a tad counterintuitive, so maybe I'm just using it wrong.

It also seems to have a bug where it launches twice whenever I start my computer. So I have to close one.

[–] timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 2 points 16 hours ago

It has groups FYI. Set it under your specific connection settings.

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[–] i_am_not_a_robot@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

Muon.

Does SSH, SFTP and other stuff.

I would say, like many others, Remmina.

Putty also has a Linux version, so you can use that as well. Its session management is a bit clunky, but it works and it offers some fairly good functionalities.

But ssh is first and foremost a command line tool. As others have said, invest some time to learn its commands and configuration files.

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