SSH Key Generation


Unix

To generate an SSH key on Unix/Linux, run the following command on a shell.

ssh-keygen

Follow the onscreen instructions, leaving the passphrase blank. Two files will be created at

/< YOUR_HOME_FOLDER >/.ssh/

There files are < FILENAME > and < FILENAME >.pub. The former will be necessary on any machine from which you wish to access the User Interface (UI). The latter should be attached to your account creation request.

Windows, using PuTTY

Putty and puttygen tools can be found here.

Start puttygen. You should see the following window.

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Set the Type of key to generate to SSH-2 RSA and click Generate. When the next window appears (image below), move the mouse randomly over the empty space below the progress bar until it fills up.

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Do not enter any passphrase. Click Save private Key. A warning about empty passphrase will pop up: Confirm and choose a file location.

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Open the file you just saved with a text editor. The highlighted section (after Public-Lines) is the one that should be attached to UI account creation requests. Do not send the whole file nor the Private-Lines section!

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Now it is necessary to prepare putty to use the generated key for authentication. Open putty and enter the UI hostname or IP address. Then select, from the left panel, Connection → Data. Enter your username at the Auto-login username box.

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Now navigate to Connection → SSH → Auth. Enter the path of the saved key file, and leave the checkboxes as in the image below.

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If everything is correct, the UI will not prompt for passwords, the login will be done using the SSH key.