python-paramiko -- A SSH2 protocol library for python
http://www.lag.net/paramiko/
Paramiko (a combination of the esperanto words for "paranoid" and
"friend") is a module for python 2.3 or greater that implements the
SSH2 protocol for secure (encrypted and authenticated) connections to
remote machines. Unlike SSL (aka TLS), the SSH2 protocol does not require
heirarchical certificates signed by a powerful central authority. You may
know SSH2 as the protocol that replaced telnet and rsh for secure access
to remote shells, but the protocol also includes the ability to open
arbitrary channels to remote services across an encrypted tunnel. (This
is how sftp works, for example.)