SSH and Root Access

If you are using the linux command line, there are several programs for you to use to edit files in SSH. This is a convenient way to modify files since you can quickly change them in terminal without using a separate text editor. Here at InMotion Hosting, our System Administration team primarily uses programs called Read More >

The root user is a sort of “superuser” that can perform advanced system administrative tasks on your system. If you have a VPS or Dedicated Server plan you can use the root user to perform tasks that other users (such as your cPanel user) do not have the privilege of performing. Is My Root User Read More >

Vim is the successor of the vi terminal text editor with a long list of powerful features. Short for “Vi IMproved,” Vim is sometimes pre-installed on popular, staple Linux distributions such as CentOS and Debian. For others including Linux Mint, you might instead have the original vi or vim.tiny, a slimmed down variant of Vim Read More >

MTR combines the purpose of ping and tracert/traceroute. MTR visualizes performance and latency issues across every machine, or hop, between your local machine and the destination. MTR can help answer the following questions: Is my server slow? If the issue isn’t my server, which hop is? Does a hop have intermittent packet loss? Do I Read More >

We recommend using Netcat / Ncat, or Nmap for multiple ports instead, as Telnet is NOT encrypted and therefore insecure. The Telnet command line tool tests port connections with your local network router, servers, and websites. For example, Telnet can help you see why the email is being rejected. Telnet is pre-installed on many Windows, Read More >

Closing unnecessary ports on your server is an important process for PCI compliance and server hardening in general. This reduces what information cyber attackers can easily gather about your web server and services to exploit. This also applies to Small Office / Home Office (SOHO) networks. To scan your local network, you need to know Read More >

You can use your local router’s internal IP address to test if a port is blocked by your local network, internet service provider (ISP), or virtual private network (VPN). Most operating systems (OSs) – Windows, macOS, Linux, BSD, etc. – with a graphical user interface (GUI) have pre-installed software that can give you this information. Read More >

As we continue our series on the cPHulk security features, we will show you the steps to blacklist and whitelist IP addresses via SSH. In the last guide we showed you how to blacklist and whitelist IP addresses in the Web Host Manager or WHM. But doing this with command line using SSH can save Read More >

In this tutorial, we will show you how to lookup a CNAME record using SSH. This can be an important step when troubleshooting redirect issues. Performing this test via SSH can save time, since it can be done right in a terminal. We also have a helpful guide on how to create a CNAME record. Read More >