Microsoft shows Linux love, adding support for SSH to PowerShell

jeremy · 06-03-2015, 03:10 PM

Quote:

An upcoming version of Windows PowerShell will let users manage Windows and Linux computers through Secure Shell protocol and Shell session (better known as SSH), thanks to some new functionality Microsoft announced Tuesday.
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The new feature, which was announced in a blog post by PowerShell Group Software Engineering Manager Angel Calvo, will allow Windows users to securely connect with and run terminal commands on other Windows and Linux machines using SSH and vice versa. In addition, the PowerShell team will be working with the OpenSSH project to share their work with the open-source community.

According to Calvo, users who need to work with both Windows and Linux devices frequently request SSH support. First introduced in 1995, SSH is a key tool for managing remote machines, but Windows hasn’t featured native support for it before.

Between the support for Linux and the contributions to open-source software, these developments highlight some of the recent major shifts in Microsoft’s strategy and culture. At an event focused on its Azure cloud platform last year, CEO Satya Nadella declared Microsoft’s love for Linux, which is a marked difference from Steve Ballmer, who once famously called it a “cancer.” Microsoft has made a number of Linux distributions available on Azure and is even releasing a code editor that runs across Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.

Adding SSH support was a long time coming and wouldn’t have been possible without those changes at Microsoft. Calvo revealed that the PowerShell team tried to include SSH support in versions 1 and 2 of the software, but the idea was ultimately shot down. Calvo credited “changes in our leadership and culture” with making the upcoming features possible.

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What do LQ members think of this announcement?

--jeremy

schneidz · 06-03-2015, 03:11 PM

welcome microsoft to the year 2000.

dugan · 06-03-2015, 04:30 PM

It was nice having known about you, PuTTY.

schneidz · 06-03-2015, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

It was nice having known about you, PuTTY.

not getting rid of putty yet... how do i get this up and running in windows (i assume i would need to buy a new version of windows -- my company is still on win-7) or do i have to wait for our desktop support to add this feature ?

Sefyir · 06-03-2015, 05:41 PM

Is this considered to be a new feature? Also, it mentions logging into a windows computer, which means it will have a server on it right? I can already hear the bots attacking my ssh server salivating at the opportunity of millions of windows server to guess passwords on. That's assuming there are no exploits either if MS does its "not invented here" syndrome.

In any case, good for them. Implementing something useful rather then something that looks cool. If they trudge along and add multiple workspaces and make it free, they'll be that much closer to mimicking a linux OS from 20 years ago.. (better late then never)