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February 8, 2008
Goodbye SecureCRT - Hello Putty!!!
First off, let me say thank you to all who responded to the previous post on my qualms spending $99 for SecureCRT. An extra thank you to whomever suggested Putty CM!
This utility is so cool, I thought I'd create an extra post about it for those who missed the last thread. Now, without a doubt, SecureCRT takes the cake for the number of features, smoothness, and so on...but if you're just looking for these basic features, you gotta check this program out:
- Saved connections / passwords
- Tabbed windows / session management
- Scripted logins
Here's a screencap of what I've got so far:
**Note...the black squares are mine to protect the innocent :o)
Now here's the scoop: The Putty Connection Manager essentially puts a "shell" around the actual Putty program.
The shell is what adds all the SecureCRT-like functionality to the Putty program itself. I'm not saying this program is perfect...there's already a couple glitches that bug me, but for the most part...it does everything I need it to do for...(drum roll please) FREEEEEEE!!
So here's the links to get you started:
Putty Connection Manager
Putty itself
Posted by JC at February 8, 2008 8:17 AM
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Comments
terminal emulation keeps me from using it, with screen, centericq, mutt, emacs, emacs, emacs, emacs, emacs, multitail it will within minutes leave me with artifacts. scrt doesnt have this problem.
but for a forwarding agent, sure.
Posted by: hpavc at February 12, 2008 12:50 AM
Cool! Thanks for this - I've been using puTTY for years, and this really unclutters my display (ie. no more dozens of open sessions in my taskbar!)
Posted by: leeb at February 12, 2008 3:24 AM
No serial connection!?!
You get what you pay for :)
Posted by: James at February 12, 2008 9:57 PM
James, Eh? Putty's supported serial connections for something like a year now. The CM is just a wrapper so it should support serial connections through the version of Putty you install.
Posted by: Scott Brooke at February 13, 2008 5:24 AM
James, my apologies! Just saw the feature request for serial connections. If I understand it right the serial interface isn't available through Putty's command line. That's kind of lame.
Posted by: Scott at February 13, 2008 7:33 AM
Drat! I am growing to love this Putty CM more and more. I didn't want to - I felt comfortable that there was no freeware equivalent to my blessed SecureCRT - but it is definitely a viable alternative.
Posted by: Mike S at February 13, 2008 8:31 AM
Like someone mentioned in the last thread, check out TeraTerm Pro. I've never had any issues with cutting and pasting massive config files or with screen artifacts.
I work for a VAR so I live and die by serial connections more than ssh. No tabs, but I think it has everything else on your list.
Posted by: dy at February 13, 2008 10:25 AM
Actually, do a search for "Tera Term Pro Web". It's still old but it's fresher than the original one. It's still pretty good and does an excellent job with serial connections.
Compared to PuttyCM though it's not being developed any longer and there's no capacity for automation.
Posted by: Scott at February 13, 2008 10:55 AM
AWESOME!
Posted by: Marc at February 15, 2008 3:05 PM
Anybody know how to import devices into a database in puttycm? I know very little to nothing about xml and that's the format it accepts. Even looking at an xml export from it doesn't help me much!
Posted by: Steve B at February 16, 2008 7:27 AM
I still think you to get a mac and use ssh!!!! :D
Posted by: Mario A. Spinthiras at February 18, 2008 4:18 AM
@dy: Some folks have been updating TeraTerm with UTF-8 support, among other things. Check out http://ttssh2.sourceforge.jp/ and the support forum at http://www.neocom.ca/forum/index.php .
Posted by: Chris at February 18, 2008 12:40 PM
What about linux based alternatives with SecureCRT style features?
minicom can only do so much (in a very painful way)
Posted by: Kenny at February 21, 2008 4:52 AM
Hi. I have checked the connection manager for the putty and it is amazing! I need to go a step further. i need to have some scripts for the connection. Everyday i type my username and passwd maybe more than hundred times to different routers due to my work. I need a script that will put my username and passwd everytime i call it. I 've already got it in secure crt and this is the only thing that keeps me still using it.
Posted by: binary_dreamer at February 29, 2008 5:58 AM
That't a great tool specially when you have lots of SSH devices to administer.
Thanks!
Posted by: Gabi at March 1, 2008 12:51 AM
You just found putty? It's been out for years dude.
Posted by: protospheric at March 4, 2008 6:48 PM
I love the concept of Putty CM, but I've found that it requires you to be a system administrator to install or to run it. Not really cool for those corporate PCs that are locked down to a point just above usability.
Posted by: Aaron Conaway at March 21, 2008 7:11 AM
@Chris
You could use GNUscreen instead of minicom:
screen [/dev/tty.your_serial] [baudrate]
So, for me with my device on /dev/tty.PL2303-0000201A it would be:
me@bigmac$ screen /dev/tty.PL2303-0000201A 9600
To send a break so you can get into rommom just hit "ctrl-a b". It's pretty versatile for many things and you can set heaps of stuff up in your ~/.screenrc file.
To end the session, you can send a "ctrl-a k" to kill the session; not the most elegant, but it does the job.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Lott at April 4, 2008 4:50 PM
I just finished a video tutorial about Using Putty Connection Manager with GNS3. Hope this helps many!
http://www.brainbump.net/2008/08/gns3how-to-use-putty-connection-manager-for-console-access/
Thanks!
Posted by: BrainBump at August 7, 2008 9:44 AM