sorry I sound strong-minded

Strong minded is good! And...
Actually I probably have all the access I need. I certainly have FTP and SFTP because that's how I develop with WinSCP updating server side files from a local copy.

I also have SSH but the only thing I ever use it for is to connect with PuTTY and run top if I suspect that a script hasn't finished when expected.

Looks like I'm going to have to brush up on Linux - most of my professional IT life was spend in a Windows environment (XP and 2002 R2) but 20 years ago I did some AIX work. For the last decade I have been entirely amateur WRT IT running businesses totally unrelated to IT.

Christmas is cancelled

I wish...I have meetings all day with various parts of my team discussing Christmas investor relations and Christmas marketing campaigns!