Ask anyone and they'll probably tell you that the idea of Write Once, Run Anywhere software is a little misleading. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I managed to install and run the same copy of Puakma on my new Linux server as I used on the Windows install that it replaced. Here's the moment of truth. Look ma, no errors:

One of the things I liked about Red Hat was that it was easy for me to find the above window. On previous installs of other flavours I've had problems figuring out what was running and how to start what wasn't. This box, analogous to the Windows Services console, is just the trick for quickly restarting programs. Since my first failed Linux installs I've learnt how you start and stop programs from the shell using the "service" command. I've also learnt of the Secure Shell (ssh) protocol. Until yesterday however I had never actually used it. Needing to reboot the MySQL daemon I thought I would try a ssh session to the server before I bother switching monitors and logging in. Here's how easy it was. Guessing that the command "ssh" would do something at the terminal, I typed it in. What I got was a list of options and the next time I got it right. I just love it when things just work like you'd expect. Here's me doing the same thing as in the above window but from my iBook downstairs. Obviously you're not limited to working with services. Once logged in to the shell on the remote server you can pretty much do anything you can actually sat at the server.

I know this is child's-play to a lot of you but I still have a lot to learn. Any of you pros know of a decent Windows SSH client? Preferably a free one.

Updated (a day later): Thanks to all who responded. I now have a lovely little util for Windows called PuTTY: