SSH, which is an abbreviation for Secure Shell, is a network protocol used to exchange protected data between a client and a hosting server, making it impossible for unauthorized parties to intercept any data. Many tech-savvy customers choose SSH due to the higher security level. The connection is created and the commands are sent using a command line. The accessible options depend on the type of Internet hosting service - on a shared server, in particular, files may be relocated or deleted, databases may be imported and exported, and archives could be set up or unpacked. On a virtual or a dedicated server, your choices are much more - the web server and the database server could be started/stopped/rebooted, server-side software could be set up and a lot more. These things aren't possible on a shared server, due to the fact that full root access is required and all the other customers on that server would be affected. Though SSH is used largely with UNIX-like OSs, there are SSH clients for other OSs too - Windows, Mac OS, and so forth.
