SSH, or Secure Shell, is a network protocol employed to connect to a server and perform different tasks using a command line. The protocol is preferred by many skilled users, because the info transmitted over it is encrypted, so it can't be intercepted on the way by a 3rd party. SSH access may be employed for lots of things based on the type of website hosting account. With a shared hosting account, for instance, SSH is one of several ways to import/export a database or to upload a file when the hosting server allows it. In case you have a virtual or a dedicated server, SSH can be used for practically everything - you may install software or restart particular services such as the web server or the database server which run on the machine. SSH is used mainly with UNIX-like Operating Systems, but there are clients which enable you to use the protocol if your computer is using a different OS too. The connection is made on TCP port 22 by default and the remote web server always listens for incoming connections on that port even though a number of providers change it for security reasons.