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.)
