Whether your needs focus on remote access and administration or secure file transfer, the VShell server has a full range of capabilities that enable you to:
Provide strong, multi-protocol security for data in transit
VShell delivers proven, open-standard authentication, encryption, and data integrity with a choice of protocols to suit your needs. It allows you to provide a wide range of services to your organization with confidence.
- SSH2 is an accepted standard for remote system administration, as SFTP is for secure file transfer.
- FTPS provides flexibility for a wider range of clients. If needed, allow FTP connections to support legacy systems.
- Upgrade to VShell Enterprise Edition with HTTPS to offer your end users easy, browser-based file transfer. No client software is needed and there are no browser plugins to install.
- User authentication offers a range of options including public-key, Kerberos, and two-factor methods.
Control user access to features and files
VShell gives you extensive controls to manage privileges for shell, file transfer, and other services.
- Define which services – SFTP, SCP, FTPS, FTP, HTTPS, HTTP, shell, port forwarding – are granted to users or groups with VShell Access Control Lists (ACLs).
- Transparently transfer file transfer operations to a separate SFTP server, so that files can be uploaded and downloaded without ever being written to the VShell server's disk.
- Using the virtual root directory feature, administrators can define multiple directory access points for different groups or individual users.
Set up and configure the server easily
VShell installs and runs right "out of the box". Windows configuration is made easy by the graphical control panel. Advanced installation options facilitate large-scale deployment.
- The Windows Control Panel offers easy graphical configuration from initial setup to selecting access control lists and stopping and starting services.
- Installation and setup choices include silent/unattended installation, answer files, and customized installers with special defaults, preconfigured settings, and included files (for qualifying purchases).
Automate business processes
One key way to increase admin productivity is to provide automation support. The VShell server does this with a combination of event trigger conditions, remote command execution, and command-line utilities.
- VShell automation triggers help you track and respond to events like failed logon attempts and uploaded files.
- The RunAs Commands feature lets the administrator allow less privileged users to use certain commands or scripts that require elevated privileges.
- A set of command-line utilities facilitate automation by filling in gaps between VShell and standard operating system tools. Detailed information on the command-line utilities is available on the VanDyke ClientPack product page.
Logging and monitoring
- Server messages may be logged to VShell log files as well as the Windows system log or a remote syslog/syslog-ng server.
- Select the message groups to be logged – for example, errors, warnings, information, connections, authentications, and protocol-specific messages.
- The VShell Monitor is a real-time connection monitoring tool that displays the current connections to the VShell server.
Tune licensing to your requirements with editions
VShell Administrator, Workgroup, and Enterprise editions allow cost-effective licensing from one user to thousands.
| License Edition | Concurrent client connections allowed | SSH2 and SFTP |
FTPS and FTP |
HTTPS and HTTP |
All other features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Administrator | 2 | ||||
| Workgroup | 25 | ||||
| Enterprise | Unlimited | ||||
| Enterprise with HTTPS | Unlimited |
VanDyke Software Support provides comprehensive technical support, including pre-sales evaluation, consultation for installation and configuration issues, and support of maintenance and upgrade software.
VanDyke Sales is ready to help you work out licensing issues for the most complex deployment plans.