Setting Up SSH Tunnels with Solar PuTTY

When it comes to managing multiple SSH connections, it can be tedious and time-consuming to repeatedly enter addresses and credentials each time you need to connect to a host or SSH into a switch or router. This is where Solar-PuTTY comes in, a free SSH client and connection manager from SolarWinds that simplifies the process.

Rather than using a folder tree like some other SSH clients, Solar-PuTTY relies on tags to categorize your connections. This allows you to organize your sessions in a way that makes sense for your needs. Customizations are limited to those available for PuTTY itself, but you can specify post-authentication scripts and session logging for each saved session.

With Solar-PuTTY, you can set a session name, IP or hostname, port, connection type (SSHv2, SSHv1, Telnet, SCP/SFTP/FTP), and credentials to use. Multiple open sessions appear as tabs along the top of the window, making it easy to switch between connections.

One of the standout features of Solar-PuTTY is its quick access screen, which tiles your most used connections for easy access. You can also save credentials, including private keys, for auto-logging into your sessions.

What's more, if you use PuTTY on your system as well, any connections you create in Solar-PuTTY will appear in the regular PuTTY application. This makes it a convenient option for those who already use PuTTY.

Solar-PuTTY is free to download and use, with no installation required. Simply run the executable file to launch the software. Its ease of use and feature-rich interface make it an excellent choice for anyone looking to simplify their SSH connection management needs.

Whether you're a Linux server sysadmin or network admin/engineer, using a good SSH client like Solar-PuTTY can be invaluable. With its ability to manage multiple connections and simplify the process of accessing your systems, it's definitely worth considering.

Solar putty ssh tunnel