To execute a command on a remote server: ssh -t user@example.com 'the-remote-command' To tunnel an x session over SSH: ssh -X user@example.com To launch a specific x application over SSH: ssh -X -t user@example.com 'chromium-browser' To ssh via pem file (normally needs 0600 permissions): ssh -i /path/to/file.pem user@example.com For more information, see: http://unix.stackexchange.com/q/12755/44856