Connecting to a Linux VPS box from Windows machine

Question

This may be a very noob question, but I have absolutely ZERO linux knowledge. Once thing I have noticed is that the VPS / Server hosting costs are usually always lower for linux boxes.

So, what I'd like to know is, as a user on a Windows machine, could I purchase a Linux VPS box from my provider and connect to it, and if so, how?? I currently use remote desktop to connect to my Windows VPS boxes, so is there something similar I could use to connect from my WINDOWS box to the LINUX box?

My logic is telling me that you probably can only connect windows to windows and linux to linux, but with today's technology I'm probably wrong and there more than likely is a way.

Any info appreciated.

Answer 1

You can connect to a Linux VPS instance from Windows via a couple of different ways, but in all cases some familiarity with Linux and Linux shell (command line) will be necessary. Most Linux VPS installs are server-only and you use the command line to login and manage the server, including setting up the web server and database management. If you are more comfortable with the graphical desktop view, you can ask the VPS Host to install the desktop along with VNC service (which is an open source remote access utility, similar to Terminal Services in Windows). After that, you can connect to your VPS using the Windows VNC client, as if you're using the Remote Desktop Client in Windows.

The better approach for you may be to install VirtualBox and a Linux distribution as a virtual machine on your own PC, and spend some time getting acquainted with the O/S. See if that works for you and when you're comfortable with your local version, it's much easier to set up a Linux VPS and host a website.

Answer 2

The simplest way is to install the "putty" terminal emulation.

If you want to invoke some graphical applicatiosn from the linux server then you will need an X terminal emulation. The simplest way to do this is to install "cygwin" and specifiy the X server options on install.

Answer 3

You can connect to linux box by using SSH. On windows you can use program like putty . Basically it is something like command:

ssh username@host