I've installed lighttpd on a dedicated server in a DC for the sole convenience of logging in via ajaxterm... prior to this, the only ports opened were for SSH. At the very least, I will use SSL. Question is, should I use SSH (as opposed to LOGIN) on top of SSL, or will this be overkill? I know the linode console uses SSL and SSH, but perhaps the reasons are not all security related?

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience regarding this?

Thank you,
Hal Williams

Edit: Just logged into Linode's console and it does not appear to use SSH after all... I stand corrected...

SSH stands for Secure SHell. It's already encrypted using the same mechanism used in SSL.

Like you observed, Lish doesn't use SSH.

Well, there's two parts to a LISH connection; firstly from your PC to the lish server and then from lish to your linode. The first part is ssh; the second part is directly to your linode's console (via screen). Your linode sees a direct tty login and not a network login, and so you don't need ssh running on your linode for that.

_________________
Rgds
Stephen
(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)

If you use the provided web-based ajax console you should be fine cause it's a HTTPS connection --> encrypted.