Secure Shell, also known as SSH, is a cryptographic network protocol that is used to execute commands on a remote machine or to exchange information between a website hosting server and a client. Given that the information exchanged by the two sides is protected, a third party simply cannot intercept it, which makes SSH a favored means of managing a hosting account. The commands which could be executed depend on the type of hosting service. On a shared hosting server, for instance, the options are limited as you shall not have root access to the web server, so you could just create/move/delete files, set up and unpack archives, import and export databases, and so on. These are all actions which are performed inside the shared hosting account and don't require a higher level of access. Using a virtual or a dedicated server, you shall have the ability to set up server-side software or to restart the server or only a specific service (web server, database server, etc.). SSH commands are submitted with a command line, and if you don't employ a UNIX-like Operating System, there are a number of applications for other OSs, which you can employ to connect to the remote server as well.