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If you are one of those less fortunate unix/linux admins who are forced to use Windows operating system at work, then you’ve probably had ten or more SSH terminals open each logged to different servers.

This maybe manageable to some of us but imagine 3 of those terminals dealing with one project, 2 of them on some patch installs and the remaining 5 on a crazy production issue you’re troubleshooting.

The real fun starts when you start doing ALT-TAB and browse through a few before getting the right terminal session….it could be frustrating.  Even if you’re a developer or a general user who logs into unix based servers and would like to better manage your connections then this article maybe helpful to you as well.   I’ve come up with a list of clients that support tabs, add to the list if there is more!

PuTTY Connection Manager

Chances are the majority of users use PuTTY for accessing SSH from windows and by the addition of PuTTY connection manager that adds tabbed interface, there should be no reason but to not use PuTTY anymore.  It  is by far the smallest, quickest way of accessing remote servers via SSH out there.

The connection manager is centralizes all your sessions in one window.  You can download it from here. You can read all about it’s features, download latest release from it’s website.

Poderosa

For those who dislike PuTTY for some reason, Poderosa is a pretty good alternative.  You can get it from en.poderosa.org.

In addition to doing tabbed browsing, it also allows you to split ssh windows in multiple different ways (see screenshots) as well as set up cygwin sessions.

Celestial Software

Another SSH client that tabbed interface.  It has tabs like poderosa but less expensive. It includes port forwarding, X forwarding. It supports the basic authentication and has all other necessary SSH terminal features.  Visit celestialsoftware.net for more details.

WinTabber

Even tough this isn’t made specifically with SSH, this is a great tool to use to provide tabbing feature to almost any application on your desktop.

WinTabber is a container application, that allows you to capture external windows and work with them in a grouped, tabbed environment.  Check out a video demo of the WinTabber on wintabber.com and download their free version to use.

Bonus for MAC users

The default terminal that comes with Mac is neat but if you haven’t tried iTerm yet, give it a shot and you’ll love it.  iTerm is a full featured terminal emulation program written for OS X.

Features

• Full screen mode for a distraction free environment.
• Transparent windows with blurring and custom background pictures
• Supports select-to-copy and mid-button paste
• Smart window placement
• xterm mouse reporting for click and scroll events
• Focus follow mouse
• Applescript support
• Bonjour support
• Works on PowerPC and Intel Macs on 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6

I’ve been using it for sometime and recommend it for anyone on Mac.  Unfortunately, there is no Windows version available.  If you of any other tabbed SSH terminals, add it to the list.