Secure Shell, better known as SSH, is a cryptographic network protocol used to execute commands on a remote web server or to exchange data between a website hosting server and a client. Since the information exchanged by the two sides is encrypted, a third party cannot intercept it, which makes SSH a preferred means of controlling a hosting account. The commands that may be executed depend on the type of hosting service. On a shared hosting server, for example, the possibilities are limited since you shall not have root access to the server, so you can simply create/move/delete files, set up and unpack archives, export and import databases, etcetera. They're all actions which are executed within the shared hosting account and do not require a higher level of access. By using a virtual or a dedicated server, you will have the ability to set up server-side software or to restart the web server or only a certain service (web server, database server, etc.). SSH commands are submitted with a command line, but if you don't use a UNIX-like OS, there are a number of applications for other OSs, you can use to connect to the remote server as well.
