[Planetlab-users] useful ssh tools/links
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From: Aaron K. <al...@CS...> - 2004-01-09 18:57:11
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Hi all, I thought I'd put together an email of some useful ssh tools and websites, if you are new to ssh, or not aware of some ways to make using it easier. First, this document has a good overview of the most common uses of ssh: http://kimmo.suominen.com/ssh/ Also, if you haven't seen this document, it outlines some basic points on using ssh keys on PlanetLab: https://www.planet-lab.org/db/web_accounts/ssh_public_key.php Most linux systems will have ssh (OpenSSH) already installed for you, but if this is not the case, visit http://openssh.com/ for official releases for numerous linux-based platforms. If you are using Windows based machines, several options exist. There are commercial ssh clients like SecureCRT: http://www.vandyke.com/products/securecrt/ or freeware clients like putty: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/ Another option worth mentioning is cygwin. For windows, its a complete linux like environment. For more information, see: http://cygwin.com/ If you install it, make sure to add OpenSSH to the list of packages to install, as I last checked, it was not enabled by default. Once installed, this will give you a command prompt running the common bash shell, and you can use ssh as if you were on a linux box. As for Macintoshes, I'll have to let someone else fill in on which tools work well. :) The other reason for this email was to introduce ssh-agent and similar programs. Since PlanetLab strongly suggests that you use a passphrase on your private ssh key, it can be very cumbersome to have to type in the passphrase everytime you login to a node. This is especially true if you have scripts to handle logging into many machines. Without this passphrase, if your key is compromised, it can be used by anyone to access your slice, which puts you at risk. ssh-agent is a program available from the OpenSSH distribution that allows you to add your private keys to a running agent program on your computer and only have to type in the passphrase once, where the keys are then stored in memory. Then, all ssh operations (including scp - secure file copy), transparently contact the agent and use the key there, so you don't have to type in the passphrase more than once. For information on how to setup ssh-agent: http://kimmo.suominen.com/ssh/#ssh-agent http://www.caip.rutgers.edu/~vincentm/LINKS/sshagent.html For windows, there is a similar program available from the same authors who wrote putty, called Pageant. This works in the same way, where you add your keys to the Pageant application after its running, and putty contacts Pageant for the authorization while logging in. See the putty website above for more specific documentation. Aaron |