Managing SSH/Shell Access in WHM

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Depending on the custom package(s) you have created and used for your accounts, some of your users will have Shell access enabled while others will have it disabled.

In this tutorial, we will show you how to manage Shell access (SSH) for the hosting accounts on your server so that you can enable/disable it for each account.

Enable SSH #

Log in to your WHM and click Modify an Account in the Account Functions section.

Select the account for which you want to enable SSH and click Modify. Check the option for Shell Access and click Save:

A pop-up window would appear giving you the options to create a new package with the chosen values, to update the current package, to set the account with no package or keep the account on the existing package. Here you should choose the most suitable option and click proceed.

Next you will see a Success message as a pop-up in the bottom right corner.

What you need to do next is to ensure that this is enabled in the Feature Manager as well. You may find it under the Packages section. Just choose the list you want to change and click on the Edit button. This will take you to a page with the available features. Find the SSH Access feature and make sure it is ticked.

Click on the Save button when ready.

From now on the user for whom SSH has been enabled will be able to manage it from cPanel > SSH/Shell Access, located in the Security section

IMPORTANT!The SSH Access option should be enabled in the Feature List the account uses, otherwise, the SSH/Shell Access tool will not show up at all in cPanel.

Using the SSH/Shell Access tool, the account owner will be able to generate, import and manage SSH keys which are used for SSH authentication.

Note that password authentication is not allowed for security reasons and contact support for the SSH port is as they differ from server to server and location where your server is hosted.

Disable SSH #

If you want to disable SSH for a particular account, go to Modify an Account in WHM, select the account and click Modify.

Uncheck the option for Shell Access and click Save.

Make sure to disable it from the Feature Manager as well. You may do that via the Packages section > Feature manager > choose your features list > Edit > remove the tick from SSH Access.