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What is the difference between bin/sh, bin/bash, sbin/nologin, bin/tcsh, etc?

Asked 2012-07-13T18:15:48.937
19

I am new to linux so please go easy and talk slow =)

In Plesk I have some options for accessing the server over SSH. I just want to connect, add my public key and run rsync for backup.

  1. What is the difference between these options?
  2. Which option should I choose?
  3. What are these? They look like directories to me.

Access to the server over SSH:

  • /bin/sh
  • /bin/bash
  • /sbin/nologin
  • /bin/tcsh
  • /bin/csh
  • /bin/ksh
  • /bin/bash (chrooted)
  • /bin/rbash

Here is an image of the Plesk control panel:

enter image description here

ssh plesk
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2 Answers

25

Use /bin/bash

What are these? They look like directories to me.

These are different options for default shell given to users who connect via SSH

If you haven't used any of these shells before, I think bash is the best option for you. Most tutorials and articles for linux commands online assume you are using bash.

However, you have two options for bash: /bin/bash and /bin/bash (chrooted).

To do backups, you will probably need the bash to have full access to execute all commands. I'm not sure whether you can get what you want done with a chrooted bash.

Basically, chrooted bash is for avoiding mishaps.

To know more about chrooting, you can read this article

answered 2012-07-13T18:36:18.097
5

If you don't know, you should use /bin/bash. It's the most popular, and will be the easiest for you to get help using. That said, they all do the same thing, just in slightly different ways.

answered 2012-07-13T18:18:31.113

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