# SSH Access

We assume you do not have a monitor or keyboard connected to your control computer, so you will need some way to access it and give it commands. The way to do that is via what is called “SSH”, or “Secure SHell”. 

## Get IP Address

To connect via SSH you will need to be on the same network as the control computer and will also need to know the IP address of the computer.  Setting this up properly is described in the video in the [Network Setup](/build/hardware/control-box/network-setup.md) [Network Setup](/build/hardware/control-box/network-setup.md#configuration).

If you followed that guide then your computer should be available at an ip address that starts with `192.168.8.` and then has the last numbers to match your unit ID. For example, for `PAN022` the ip address would be `192.168.8.22` for the control box and `192.168.8.122` for the camera box. If you don’t know your IP addresses, go to <https://192.168.8.1>, log in using your adming password, and go to the ”Clients” section. You should be able to find the computer that matches your name and see it’s IP address.&#x20;

<figure><img src="/files/Z2YlwKWKWNqT3rS2Zmq2" alt=""><figcaption><p>The IP address for the “panoptes” computer is <code>192.168.8.210</code>. Note that ”panoptes” was the name given when running the installation script.</p></figcaption></figure>

## Using SSH

The generic command to use ssh is `ssh username@ip_address`, so for the above computer the command would be:

```
ssh panoptes@192.168.8.210
```

You may get a warning the first time you connect to the computer. You can hit “Yes” to continue and say that you trust the computer.

Once connected you will be connected a “shell” running on the computer where you can type commands.. You should see something similar to:

<figure><img src="/files/7lUqWebDc6YnGn5Qi98Z" alt=""><figcaption><p>The default prompt upon sshing to the control computer</p></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="info" %}
See [Command Line & The Shell](/build/software/appendix/command-line-and-the-shell.md) page for more information about how to use the command line.
{% endhint %}

## Troubleshooting

If you are reinstalling the OS or have used ssh to access the computer before, you may see an error message that looks likes the following:

<figure><img src="/files/suuGbTxLaLCiwRD2gshC" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

To get rid of the warning run the suggested command in the warning, which looks like:

```
ssh-keygen -R <ip_address>
```


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