How can I remotely control a linux box from my Mac?
Solution 1:
Definitely SSH. You could set up an under-privileged account with sudo-level privileges and connect to the box using that account over SSH to administrate the box. And, if you are looking for a graphical alternative, there is of course VNC: by setting up a VNC server on the remote box, and using the Chicken VNC client on OS X, you could have a graphical remote access to the box.
Solution 2:
NoMachine's NX Free Edition can be installed on Linux hosts, and they have NX Client versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux.