• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Create a VM ($25 Credit)
  • Buy a Domain
  • 1 Month free Back Blaze Backup
  • Other Deals
    • Domain Email
    • Nixstats Server Monitoring
    • ewww.io Auto WordPress Image Resizing and Acceleration
  • About
  • Links

IoT, Code, Security, Server Stuff etc

Views are my own and not my employer's.

Personal Development Blog...

Coding for fun since 1996, Learn by doing and sharing.

Buy a domain name, then create your own server (get $25 free credit)

View all of my posts.

  • Cloud
    • I moved my domain to UpCloud (on the other side of the world) from Vultr (Sydney) and could not be happier with the performance.
    • How to buy a new domain and SSL cert from NameCheap, a Server from Digital Ocean and configure it.
    • Setting up a Vultr VM and configuring it
    • All Cloud Articles
  • Dev
    • I moved my domain to UpCloud (on the other side of the world) from Vultr (Sydney) and could not be happier with the performance.
    • How to setup pooled MySQL connections in Node JS that don’t disconnect
    • NodeJS code to handle App logins via API (using MySQL connection pools (1000 connections) and query parameters)
    • Infographic: So you have an idea for an app
    • All Development Articles
  • MySQL
    • Using the free Adminer GUI for MySQL on your website
    • All MySQL Articles
  • Perf
    • PHP 7 code to send object oriented sanitised input data via bound parameters to a MYSQL database
    • I moved my domain to UpCloud (on the other side of the world) from Vultr (Sydney) and could not be happier with the performance.
    • Measuring VM performance (CPU, Disk, Latency, Concurrent Users etc) on Ubuntu and comparing Vultr, Digital Ocean and UpCloud – Part 1 of 4
    • Speeding up WordPress with the ewww.io ExactDN CDN and Image Compression Plugin
    • Setting up a website to use Cloudflare on a VM hosted on Vultr and Namecheap
    • All Performance Articles
  • Sec
    • Using the Qualys FreeScan Scanner to test your website for online vulnerabilities
    • Using OWASP ZAP GUI to scan your Applications for security issues
    • Setting up the Debian Kali Linux distro to perform penetration testing of your systems
    • Enabling TLS 1.3 SSL on a NGINX Website (Ubuntu 16.04 server) that is using Cloudflare
    • PHP implementation to check a password exposure level with Troy Hunt’s pwnedpasswords API
    • Setting strong SSL cryptographic protocols and ciphers on Ubuntu and NGINX
    • Securing Google G Suite email by setting up SPF, DKIM and DMARC with Cloudflare
    • All Security Articles
  • Server
    • I moved my domain to UpCloud (on the other side of the world) from Vultr (Sydney) and could not be happier with the performance.
    • All Server Articles
  • Ubuntu
    • I moved my domain to UpCloud (on the other side of the world) from Vultr (Sydney) and could not be happier with the performance.
    • Useful Linux Terminal Commands
    • All Ubuntu Articles
  • VM
    • I moved my domain to UpCloud (on the other side of the world) from Vultr (Sydney) and could not be happier with the performance.
    • All VM Articles
  • WordPress
    • Speeding up WordPress with the ewww.io ExactDN CDN and Image Compression Plugin
    • Installing and managing WordPress with WP-CLI from the command line on Ubuntu
    • How to backup WordPress on a host that has CPanel
    • Moving WordPress to a new self managed server away from CPanel
    • Moving a CPanel domain with email to a self managed VPS and Gmail
    • All WordPress Articles
  • All

MobaXterm tabbed SSH client (etc) for Windows

July 7, 2020 by Simon

After posting my last blog post (Goodbye Dropbox, One Drive, iCloud and Hello Nextcloud private cloud on UpCloud) I received comments from readers as to why I used Putty/WinSCP and not MobaXterm.  To be honest I had no idea MobaXterm existed.

I did a quick Google and checked out the pros and cons of Putty/WinSCP v MobaXTerm.  

MobaXterm Highlights

  • MobaXterm is a lot faster at uploading and downloading files over SSH connections
  • MobaXterm can connect to practically anything (SSH, Telnet, RDP, RSH, Xdmcp, VNC, FTP, SFTP, Serial, Shell etc)
  • Multiple terminals can either be in tabs or split horizontally or vertically.
  • Edit remote files via SSH and SFTP – Pro feature
  • Supports macro controls (multi commands in single screen) – Pro feature
  • MobaXterm has many plugins
  • MobaXterm can be run from a portable USB drive

Nice

MobaXterm Website

I visited https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/

https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/ website screenshot

I had an option to download the Free Version or to purchase a Professional Version.

Free v Pro version comparison

I will be reviewing the Pro version (you will see why later). I am reviewing Version 20.2 (Build 249). You can download the free version at https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/download.html.

If you purchase the Pro version (with 12  months of updates) for $69 USD. Delivery is done by email within 24 hours after payment is received.

Download Home or Pro Version

Installing MobaXterm

I downloaded the 1.5MB Installer (the link was emailed to me after purchase)

installer exe

I opened the MobaXterm installer and entered my Pro serial number (emailed to me) then I clicked Next

Enter serial number

Customise Options (during the install)

I clicked Customise MobaXTerm Professional settings button

Advanced options button

The customizer options are impressive (Import and export settings, enable/disable features, generate a portable package etc)

Customizer options

I had an option to customise the banner or any server I connect to but I left the banner as the default banner.

Banner editing

I reviewed all options for the application. This is more in depth than Putty for sure.

Enable or disable just about everything.

I reviewed my default SSH settings.  SSH Keep alive will be turned on for sure.

SSH Settings Screen

I had an option to add plugins to MobXTerm

Dialog to save files to another folder.

I had the option to generate a portable of full installer 

generate Installer

Now I can resume the setup of MobaXterm, I clicked Next

Installer Click Next

I accepted the licence agreement and clicked Next

Licence Agreement

I installed MobaXterm to my C:\ Drive

Installer Choose destination folder.

I clicked Install

Installer Install

MobaXterm was now installed

Installer: Installed Screenshot

MobaXterm

I opened MobaXterm

Apologies in advance I setup Dark Mode in MobaXterm as soon as I opened the Configuration. All screenshots will be shown below in Dark Mode.

There are 12 colour themes to choose from.

I set the Dark theme.

Main Interface

The MobaXterm interface is more feature packed than Putty.

Menu Bar, Toolbar, Tabs and options are available

Windows prompted me to allowed access to MobaXTerm in my Windows firewall.

Time to create a connection to a server.

Adding a SSH Connection to a Server

I created a new SSH server connection to one of my existing servers.

  • I specified the IP address, username and protocol.
  • I set “SCP (enhanced speed)“
add server with options

I specified the path to my private key (for the server)

I specified my servers private key

I reviewed other terminal settings.

Other settings dialog

I changed the font to Courier New, Size 12 (I am sad). I also increased the initial size of the terminal (width and height)

Set terminal font and size

I reviewed network settings (all good)

network settings

I added a shortcut to the server onto my desktop

Save shortcut to the desktop

When I opened the connection to the server I was prompted to enter the Passphrase I set on my Public Key (nice).

Then I was prompted to put in my 2FA One Time Password (OTP) in the main terminal windows and a second time in a popup form (for the connection that builds the folder structure on the left).  This is how I configured my website. To get the OTP I need to insert my YubiKey and one the YubiCo Authenticator app and enter my keys password.

Some people say that having a passphrase on a public/private key and 2FA Authentication is a bit overkill but that is not everything I do.

enter passphrase

I need to enter two OTP’s to connect to my site.

If you are fast you can use the same OTP in both windows (but they expire in 30 seconds)

enter OTP

Nice I was able to connect to my Server just like Putty.  The cool thing is I can see files and folders without opening WinSCP.

folder list and a terminal side by side

This is way more convenient than using two programs. 

I enabled the Remote Monitoring status bar in MobaXterm. Now I can see system resources on my server without running CLI commands.

Upload Speed to Singapore from Australia

I uploaded a 1GB file with to the same server from WinSCP and MobaXterm to simulate a restore.

winscp v mobaxterm at uploading

I was gobsmacked, WinSCP could only upload a file at 342KB/s, MobaXterm could upload at 4.42MB/s.

I was uploading a 1GB file from my house to a server in Singapore (within 5 minutes of each other). I did set “SCP (enhanced speed)” when Installing MobaXterm.

MobaXTerm is 12x faster than WinSCP at uploading for me. This is well worth upgrading to a Professional licence.

Download Speed (from USA/East Coast) to Australia

I ran a practical download test (this time from Chicago). In the right-hand side of MobaXterm I zipped up my entire website folder (1.66GB)

zip -r /temp/www-22-Jun-2020.zip /www-folder

Then in the left-hand side of MobaXterm I downloaded the file, this is as simple as right-click then download.

Right click download.

I was presented with a directory tree specify where to save the file to.

Specify download location

I noticed the file was downloading at 16Mbps then 18Mbps then 22Mbps within seconds.

The download speed settled down to 26Mbps after a few minutes.

This is amazing for a download from the other side of the world (200ms ping and on a VPN, 19 traceroute server hops away).

download speed

I downloaded the same file from the same server with WinSCP to compare and MobaXTerm was 10x faster at downloading. WinSCP could only manage 2.57/MB/s

winscp download speed

Plugins

I will look into plugins soon: https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/plugins.html

Local Terminal

I can also start a local terminal (documentation here)

open terminal

I can run Linux commands on my Windows machine via Cygwin

“ls -al” on Windows anyone

ls -al screenshot

I noticed MobaXterm had found my WSL 2 Installation of Debian on my Windows 10 v2020.

I can now use MobaXterm to open my WSL Linux installations.

update wls linux

MobaXterm can easily connect to my local and online Linux servers with ease.

overview of the mobaxterm ui

Multiple Exec

I used the Multiple Exec (similar to the multiple cursors in Sublime Text Editor) to control 2 serves at once and run identical commands.

Multiple Exec sending keystrokes to multiple servers.

Import Putty Sessions

I did not notice until later but you can import existing Putty connections.

MobaXterm can import Putty sessions

Generate Public/Private Keys

Also, you can generate SSH Public and Private Keys from the Tools menu or the left-hand side (tab).

generate ssh key

Pros

  • File/Folder and Terminal window side by site
  • 13x faster file uploads over SSH
  • 10x faster downloads over SSH
  • Integration with WSL Linux Images
  • Import Putty Settings
  • Local Terminals/Cygwin

Cons

  • It would be nice to only have to enter my 2FA OTP once when connecting to one of my serves.
  • The user interface is full-on, I am still learning it

Conclusion

Honestly having faster uploads and downloads over SSH is a dream come true. I live in Australia and we have terrible latency and I have better things to do than to watch slow uploads/downloads.

I look forward to investigating MobaXterm plugins in the near future as I feel I I have just scratched the surface.

Links

MobaXterm Documentation: https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/documentation.html

 

v.1.1 Plugin info fix

Filed Under: SSH, Uncategorized Tagged With: Linux, MobaXterm, ssh, terminal

Advertisement:

Copyright © Fearby.com - Do not copy or duplicate (that means you laptrinhx.com)

Primary Sidebar

Poll

What would you like to see more posts about?
Results

Support this Blog

Create your own server today (support me by using these links

Create your own server on UpCloud here ($25 free credit).

Create your own server on Vultr here.

Create your own server on Digital Ocean here ($10 free credit).

Remember you can install the Runcloud server management dashboard here if you need DevOps help.

Advertisement:

Tags

2FA (9) Advice (17) Analytics (9) App (9) Apple (10) AWS (9) Backup (21) Business (8) CDN (8) Cloud (49) Cloudflare (8) Code (8) Development (26) Digital Ocean (13) DNS (11) Domain (27) Firewall (12) Git (7) Hosting (18) HTTPS (6) IoT (9) LetsEncrypt (7) Linux (20) Marketing (11) MySQL (24) NGINX (11) NodeJS (11) OS (10) PHP (13) Scalability (12) Scalable (14) Security (44) SEO (7) Server (26) Software (7) SSH (7) ssl (17) Tech Advice (9) Ubuntu (39) Uncategorized (23) UpCloud (12) VM (44) Vultr (24) Website (14) Wordpress (25)

Disclaimer

Terms And Conditions Of Use All content provided on this "www.fearby.com" blog is for informational purposes only. Views are his own and not his employers. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. Never make changes to a live site without backing it up first.

Advertisement:

Footer

Popular

  • Backing up your computer automatically with BackBlaze software (no data limit)
  • How to back up an iPhone (including photos and videos) multiple ways
  • Add two factor auth login protection to WordPress with YubiCo hardware YubiKeys and or 2FA Authenticator App
  • Setup two factor authenticator protection at login on Ubuntu or Debian
  • Using the Yubico YubiKey NEO hardware-based two-factor authentication device to improve authentication and logins to OSX and software
  • I moved my domain to UpCloud (on the other side of the world) from Vultr (Sydney) and could not be happier with the performance.
  • Monitor server performance with NixStats and receive alerts by SMS, Push, Email, Telegram etc
  • Speeding up WordPress with the ewww.io ExactDN CDN and Image Compression Plugin
  • Add Google AdWords to your WordPress blog

Security

  • Check the compatibility of your WordPress theme and plugin code with PHP Compatibility Checker
  • Add two factor auth login protection to WordPress with YubiCo hardware YubiKeys and or 2FA Authenticator App
  • Setup two factor authenticator protection at login on Ubuntu or Debian
  • Using the Yubico YubiKey NEO hardware-based two-factor authentication device to improve authentication and logins to OSX and software
  • Setting up DNSSEC on a Namecheap domain hosted on UpCloud using CloudFlare
  • Set up Feature-Policy, Referrer-Policy and Content Security Policy headers in Nginx
  • Securing Google G Suite email by setting up SPF, DKIM and DMARC with Cloudflare
  • Enabling TLS 1.3 SSL on a NGINX Website (Ubuntu 16.04 server) that is using Cloudflare
  • Using the Qualys FreeScan Scanner to test your website for online vulnerabilities
  • Beyond SSL with Content Security Policy, Public Key Pinning etc
  • Upgraded to Wordfence Premium to get real-time login defence, malware scanner and two-factor authentication for WordPress logins
  • Run an Ubuntu VM system audit with Lynis
  • Securing Ubuntu in the cloud
  • No matter what server-provider you are using I strongly recommend you have a hot spare ready on a different provider

Code

  • How to code PHP on your localhost and deploy to the cloud via SFTP with PHPStorm by Jet Brains
  • Useful Java FX Code I use in a project using IntelliJ IDEA and jdk1.8.0_161.jdk
  • No matter what server-provider you are using I strongly recommend you have a hot spare ready on a different provider
  • How to setup PHP FPM on demand child workers in PHP 7.x to increase website traffic
  • Installing Android Studio 3 and creating your first Kotlin Android App
  • PHP 7 code to send object oriented sanitised input data via bound parameters to a MYSQL database
  • How to use Sublime Text editor locally to edit code files on a remote server via SSH
  • Creating your first Java FX app and using the Gluon Scene Builder in the IntelliJ IDEA IDE
  • Deploying nodejs apps in the background and monitoring them with PM2 from keymetrics.io

Tech

  • Backing up your computer automatically with BackBlaze software (no data limit)
  • How to back up an iPhone (including photos and videos) multiple ways
  • US v Huawei: The battle for 5G
  • Check the compatibility of your WordPress theme and plugin code with PHP Compatibility Checker
  • Is OSX Mojave on a 2014 MacBook Pro slower or faster than High Sierra
  • Telstra promised Fibre to the house (FTTP) when I had FTTN and this is what happened..
  • The case of the overheating Mac Book Pro and Occam’s Razor
  • Useful Linux Terminal Commands
  • Useful OSX Terminal Commands
  • Useful Linux Terminal Commands
  • What is the difference between 2D, 3D, 360 Video, AR, AR2D, AR3D, MR, VR and HR?
  • Application scalability on a budget (my journey)
  • Monitor server performance with NixStats and receive alerts by SMS, Push, Email, Telegram etc
  • Why I will never buy a new Apple Laptop until they fix the hardware cooling issues.

Wordpress

  • Replacing Google Analytics with Piwik/Matomo for a locally hosted privacy focused open source analytics solution
  • Setting web push notifications in WordPress with OneSignal
  • Telstra promised Fibre to the house (FTTP) when I had FTTN and this is what happened..
  • Check the compatibility of your WordPress theme and plugin code with PHP Compatibility Checker
  • Add two factor auth login protection to WordPress with YubiCo hardware YubiKeys and or 2FA Authenticator App
  • Monitor server performance with NixStats and receive alerts by SMS, Push, Email, Telegram etc
  • Upgraded to Wordfence Premium to get real-time login defence, malware scanner and two-factor authentication for WordPress logins
  • Wordfence Security Plugin for WordPress
  • Speeding up WordPress with the ewww.io ExactDN CDN and Image Compression Plugin
  • Installing and managing WordPress with WP-CLI from the command line on Ubuntu
  • Moving WordPress to a new self managed server away from CPanel
  • Moving WordPress to a new self managed server away from CPanel

General

  • Backing up your computer automatically with BackBlaze software (no data limit)
  • How to back up an iPhone (including photos and videos) multiple ways
  • US v Huawei: The battle for 5G
  • Using the WinSCP Client on Windows to transfer files to and from a Linux server over SFTP
  • Connecting to a server via SSH with Putty
  • Setting web push notifications in WordPress with OneSignal
  • Infographic: So you have an idea for an app
  • Restoring lost files on a Windows FAT, FAT32, NTFS or Linux EXT, Linux XFS volume with iRecover from diydatarecovery.nl
  • Building faster web apps with google tools and exceed user expectations
  • Why I will never buy a new Apple Laptop until they fix the hardware cooling issues.
  • Telstra promised Fibre to the house (FTTP) when I had FTTN and this is what happened..

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Some ads on this site use cookies. You can opt-out if of local analytics tracking by scrolling to the bottom of the front page or any article and clicking "You are not opted out. Click here to opt out.". Accept Reject Read More
GDPR, Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT