Set Up Secret Key Generator 3,6/5 8094 reviews
Apr 03, 2020 A pre-shared key (also called a shared secret or PSK) is used to authenticate the Cloud VPN tunnel to your peer VPN gateway. As a security best practice, it's recommended that you generate a strong 32-character shared secret. Generated for you.
Before you begin
Using SSH public-key authentication to connect to a remote system is a robust, more secure alternative to logging in with an account password or passphrase. SSH public-key authentication relies on asymmetric cryptographic algorithms that generate a pair of separate keys (a key pair), one 'private' and the other 'public'. You keep the private key a secret and store it on the computer you use to connect to the remote system. Conceivably, you can share the public key with anyone without compromising the private key; you store it on the remote system in a .ssh/authorized_keys
directory.
To use SSH public-key authentication:
- The remote system must have a version of SSH installed. The information in this document assumes the remote system uses OpenSSH. If the remote system is using a different version of SSH (for example, Tectia SSH), the process outlined below may not be correct.
- The computer you use to connect to the remote server must have a version of SSH installed. This document includes instructions for generating a key pair with command-line SSH on a Linux or macOS computer, and with PuTTY on a Windows computer.
- You need to be able to transfer your public key to the remote system. Therefore, you must either be able to log into the remote system with an established account username and password/passphrase, or have an administrator on the remote system add the public key to the
~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file in your account. - Two-factor authentication using Two-Step Login (Duo) is required for access to the login nodes on IU research supercomputers, and for SCP and SFTP file transfers to those systems. SSH public-key authentication remains an option for researchers who submit the 'SSH public-key authentication to HPS systems' user agreement (log into HPC everywhere using your IU username and passphrase), in which you agree to set a passphrase on your private key when you generate your key pair. If you have questions about how two-factor authentication may impact your workflows, contact the UITS Research Applications and Deep Learning team. For help, see Get started with Two-Step Login (Duo) at IU and Help for Two-Step Login (Duo).
Set up public-key authentication using SSH on a Linux or macOS computer
To set up public-key authentication using SSH on a Linux or macOS computer:
- Log into the computer you'll use to access the remote host, and then use command-line SSH to generate a key pair using the RSA algorithm.
To generate RSA keys, on the command line, enter:
- You will be prompted to supply a filename (for saving the key pair) and a password (for protecting your private key):
- Filename: To accept the default filename (and location) for your key pair, press
Enter
or Return
without entering a filename.Alternatively, you can enter a filename (for example, my_ssh_key
) at the prompt, and then press Enter
or Return
. However, many remote hosts are configured to accept private keys with the default filename and path (~/.ssh/id_rsa
for RSA keys) by default. Consequently, to authenticate with a private key that has a different filename, or one that is not stored in the default location, you must explicitly invoke it either on the SSH command line or in an SSH client configuration file (~/.ssh/config
); see below for instructions.
- Password: Enter a password that contains at least five characters, and then press
Enter
or Return
. If you press Enter
or Return
without entering a password, your private key will be generated without password-protection.If you don't password-protect your private key, anyone with access to your computer conceivably can SSH (without being prompted for a password) to your account on any remote system that has the corresponding public key.
Your private key will be generated using the default filename (for example, id_rsa
) or the filename you specified (for example, my_ssh_key
), and stored on your computer in a .ssh
directory off your home directory (for example, ~/.ssh/id_rsa
or ~/.ssh/my_ssh_key
).
The corresponding public key will be generated using the same filename (but with a .pub
extension added) and stored in the same location (for example, ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
or ~/.ssh/my_ssh_key.pub
).
- Use SFTP or SCP to copy the public key file (for example,
~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
) to your account on the remote system (for example, [email protected]
); for example, using command-line SCP: You'll be prompted for your account password. Your public key will be copied to your home directory (and saved with the same filename) on the remote system.
- Log into the remote system using your account username and password.
If the remote system is not configured to support password-based authentication, you will need to ask system administrators to add your public key to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file in your account (if your account doesn't have ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file, system administrators can create one for you). Once your public key is added to your ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file on the remote system, the setup process is complete, and you should now be able to SSH to your account from the computer that has your private key.
- If your account on the remote system doesn't already contain a
~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file, create one; on the command line, enter the following commands: If your account on the remote system already has a ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file, executing these commands will not damage the existing directory or file.
- On the remote system, add the contents of your public key file (for example,
~/id_rsa.pub
) to a new line in your ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file; on the command line, enter: You may want to check the contents of ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
to make sure your public key was added properly; on the command line, enter:
- You may now safely delete the public key file (for example,
~/id_rsa.pub
) from your account on the remote system; on the command line, enter:Alternatively, if you prefer to keep a copy of your public key on the remote system, move it to your .ssh
directory; on the command line, enter:
- Optionally, repeat steps 3-7 to add your public key to other remote systems that you want to access from the computer that has your private key using SSH public-key authentication.
- You now should be able to SSH to your account on the remote system (for example,
[email protected]
) from the computer (for example, host1
) that has your private key (for example, ~/.ssh/id_rsa
):- If your private key is password-protected, the remote system will prompt you for the password or passphrase (your private key password/passphrase is not transmitted to the remote system):
- If your private key is not password-protected, the remote system will place you on the command line in your home directory without prompting you for a password or passphrase:
If the private key you're using does not have the default name, or is not stored in the default path (not ~/.ssh/id_rsa
), you must explicitly invoke it in one of two ways:
- On the SSH command line: Add the
-i
flag and the path to your private key.For example, to invoke the private key host2_key
, stored in the ~/.ssh/old_keys
directory, when connecting to your account on a remote host (for example, [email protected]
), enter:
- In an SSH client configuration file: SSH gets configuration data from the following sources (in this order):
- From command-line options
- From the user's client configuration file (
~/.ssh/config
), if it exists - From the system-wide client configuration file (
/etc/ssh/ssh_config
)
The SSH client configuration file is a text file containing keywords and arguments. To specify which private key should be used for connections to a particular remote host, use a text editor to create a ~/.ssh/config
that includes the Host
and IdentityFile
keywords.
For example, for connections to host2.somewhere.edu
, to make SSH automatically invoke the private key host2_key
, stored in the ~/.ssh/old_keys
directory, create a ~/.ssh/config
file with these lines included:
Once you save the file, SSH will use the specified private key for future connections to that host.
You can add multiple Host
and IdentityFile
directives to specify a different private key for each host listed; for example:
Alternatively, you can use a single asterisk ( *
) to provide global defaults for all hosts (specify one private key for several hosts); for example:
For more about the SSH client configuration file, see the OpenSSH SSH client configuration file on the web or from the command line (man ssh_config
).
Deploying the public keyTo use the user key that was created above, the public key needs to be placed on the server into a text file called authorizedkeys under usersusername.ssh.The OpenSSH tools include scp, which is a secure file-transfer utility, to help with this.To move the contents of your public key (.sshided25519.pub) into a text file called authorizedkeys in.ssh on your server/host.This example uses the Repair-AuthorizedKeyPermissions function in the OpenSSHUtils module which was previously installed on the host in the instructions above. Generate public key sftp server. NoteIt is strongly recommended that you back up your private key to a secure location,then delete it from the local system, after adding it to ssh-agent.The private key cannot be retrieved from the agent.If you lose access to the private key, you would have to create a new key pairand update the public key on all systems you interact with.
Set Up Secret Key Generator Download
Set up public-key authentication using PuTTY on a Windows 10 or Windows 8.x computer
The PuTTY command-line SSH client, the PuTTYgen key generation utility, the Pageant SSH authentication agent, and the PuTTY SCP and SFTP utilities are packaged together in a Windows installer available under The MIT License for free download from the PuTTY development team.
Set Up Secret Key Generator Download
After installing PuTTY:
- Launch PuTTYgen.
- In the 'PuTTY Key Generator' window, under 'Parameters':
- For 'Type of key to generate', select RSA. (In older versions of PuTTYgen, select SSH2-RSA.)
- For 'Number of bits in a generated key', leave the default value (
2048
).
- Under 'Actions', click Generate.
- When prompted, use your mouse (or trackpad) to move your cursor around the blank area under 'Key'; this generates randomness that PuTTYgen uses to generate your key pair.
- When your key pair is generated, PuTTYgen displays the public key in the area under 'Key'. In the 'Key passphrase' and 'Confirm passphrase' text boxes, enter a passphrase to passphrase-protect your private key.
If you don't passphrase-protect your private key, anyone with access to your computer will be able to SSH (without being prompted for a passphrase) to your account on any remote system that has the corresponding public key.
- Save your public key:
- Under 'Actions', next to 'Save the generated key', click Save public key.
- Give the file a name (for example,
putty_key
), select a location on your computer to store it, and then click Save.
- Save your private key:
- Under 'Actions', next to 'Save the generated key', click Save private key.
If you didn't passphrase-protect your private key, the utility will ask whether you're sure you want to save it without a passphrase. Click Yes to proceed or No to go back and create a passphrase for your private key.
- Keep 'Save as type' set to PuTTY Private Key Files (*.ppk), give the file a name (for example,
putty_private_key
), select a location on your computer to store it, and then click Save. - If you wish to connect to a remote desktop system such as Research Desktop (RED), click Conversions > Export OpenSSH key, give the file a name (for example,
putty_rsa
), select a location on your computer to store it, and then click Save.
- Log into the remote system using your account username and password.
If the remote system does not support password-based authentication, you will need to ask system administrators to add your public key to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file in your account (if your account doesn't have ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file, system administrators can create one for you). Once your public key is added to your account's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file on the remote system..
- If your account on the remote system doesn't already contain a
~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file, create one; on the command line, enter the following commands:If your account on the remote system already has ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
, executing these commands will not damage the existing directory or file.
- On your computer, in the PuTTYgen utility, copy the contents of the public key (displayed in the area under 'Key') onto your Clipboard. Then, on the remote system, use your favorite text editor to paste it onto a new line in your
~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file, and then save and close the file. - On your computer, open the Pageant SSH authentication agent. This utility runs in the background, so when it opens, you should see its icon displayed in the Windows notification area.
- In the Windows notification area, right-click on the Pageant icon, select Add Key, navigate to the location where you saved your private key (for example,
putty_private_key.ppk
), select the file, and then click Open. - If your private key is passphrase-protected, Pageant will prompt you to enter the passphrase; enter the passphrase for your private key, and then click OK.
If your private key is not passphrase-protected, Pageant will add your private key without prompting you for a passphrase.
Either way, Pageant stores the unencrypted private key in memory for use by PuTTY when you initiate an SSH session to the remote system that has your public key.
- On your computer, open the PuTTY SSH client:
- On the Session screen:
- Under 'Host Name (or IP address)', enter your username coupled with the hostname of the remote server that has your public key; for example:
- Under 'Connection type', make sure SSH is selected.
- In the 'Category' list on the left, navigate to the Auth screen (Connection > SSH > Auth). On the Auth screen, under 'Authentication methods', select Attempt authentication using Pageant.
- Return to the Session screen, and under 'Saved Sessions', enter a name (for example,
Deathstar
), and then click Save. - Click Open to connect to your account on the remote system. With Pageant running in the background, PuTTY will retrieve the unencrypted private key automatically from Pageant and use it to authenticate. Because Pageant has your private key's passphrase saved (if applicable), the remote system will place you on the command line in your account without prompting you for the passphrase.
Technically, at this point, the setup is complete. In the future, whenever you log into your Windows desktop, you can run Pageant, add the private key, and then use PuTTY to SSH to any remote resource that has your public key. Alternatively, you can create a shortcut in your Windows Startup
folder to launch Pageant and load your private key automatically whenever you log into your desktop. For instructions, finish the rest of the following steps.
- Open your
Startup
folder. Press Win-r
, and in the 'Open' field, type shell:startup
, and then press Enter
. - Right-click inside the
Startup
folder, and then select New and Shortcut. - In the 'Type the location of the item' text box, enter the path to the Pageant executable (
pageant.exe
) followed by the path to your private key file (for example, putty_private_key.ppk
); enclose both paths in double quotes; for example: - Click Next, and then, in the 'Type a name for this shortcut' text box, enter a name for the shortcut (for example,
PAGEANT
). - Click Finish.
The next time you log into your Windows desktop, Pageant will start automatically, load your private key, and (if applicable) prompt you for the passphrase.
Set Up Secret Key Generator 2017
- Managing Kerberos and Other Authentication Services in Oracle® Solaris 11.3
- Document Information
- Using This Documentation
- Chapter 1 Using Pluggable Authentication Modules
- What's New in Authentication in Oracle Solaris 11.3
- About PAM
- Introduction to the PAM Framework
- Benefits of Using PAM
- Planning a Site-Specific PAM Configuration
- Assigning a Per-User PAM Policy
- Configuring PAM
- PAM Configuration Reference
- PAM Configuration Files
- PAM Configuration Search Order
- PAM Configuration File Syntax
- PAM Stacking
- PAM Stacking Example
- PAM Service Modules
- Chapter 2 Kerberos on Oracle Solaris
- What's New in Kerberos in Oracle Solaris 11.3
- Introduction to MIT Kerberos on Oracle Solaris
- Comparison of MIT Kerberos and Oracle Solaris Kerberos
- Differences in Defaults Between MIT Kerberos and Oracle Solaris Kerberos
- Documentation About Kerberos
- Kerberos Documentation
- Oracle Solaris Documentation for Kerberos
- How the Kerberos Service Works
- Initial Authentication: the Ticket-Granting Ticket
- Subsequent Kerberos Authentications
- Kerberos Authentication of Batch Jobs
- Kerberos, DNS, and the Naming Service
- Kerberos and Strong Encryption
- Kerberos and FIPS 140-2 Mode
- Chapter 3 Planning for the Kerberos Service
- Native Oracle Solaris Features Integrated With Kerberos
- Planning KDCs
- Planning for Kerberos Clients
- Using Automatic Installation to Install Kerberos Clients
- Using the kclient Profile to Install Kerberos Clients
- Kerberos Client Login Security
- Trusted Delegated Services in Kerberos
- Planning Kerberos Use of UNIX Names and Credentials
- Automatic User Migration to a Kerberos Realm
- Synchronizing Clocks Between KDCs and Kerberos Clients
- Chapter 4 Configuring the Kerberos Service
- Configuring the Kerberos Service
- Configuring KDC Servers
- Configuring KDC Servers on LDAP Directory Servers
- Configuring a Master KDC on an OpenLDAP Directory Server
- How to Configure a Master KDC on an OpenLDAP Directory Server
- Configuring a Master KDC on an Oracle Unified Directory Server
- How to Configure a Master KDC on an Oracle Unified Directory LDAP Directory Server
- How to Mix Kerberos Principal Attributes in a Non-Kerberos Object Class Type on an OpenLDAP Server
- How to Destroy a Kerberos Realm on an LDAP Directory Server
- Configuring Kerberos Clients
- Configuring Kerberos Network Application Servers
- Configuring Kerberos NFS Servers
- Configuring Delayed Execution for Access to Kerberos Services
- How to Configure a cron Host for Access to Kerberos Services
- Administering the Kerberos Database
- How to Convert a Kerberos Database After a Server Upgrade
- Observing Mapping From GSS Credentials to UNIX Credentials
- Increasing Security on Kerberos Servers
- Restricting Access to KDC Servers
- Using a Dictionary File to Increase Password Security
- Chapter 5 Users Using Kerberos
- Kerberos Password and Ticket Management
- Administrative Responsibilities for Kerberos Password and Ticket Management
- User Responsibilities for Kerberos Ticket Management
- User Responsibilities for Kerberos Password Management
- User Remote Logins in Kerberos
- Chapter 6 Using Simple Authentication and Security Layer
- About SASL
- SASL Reference
- SASL Plugins
- SASL Environment Variable
- SASL Options
- Chapter 7 Using Smart Cards for Multifactor Authentication in Oracle Solaris
- Two-Factor Authentication and Smart Cards
- About Two-Factor Authentication
- Implementation of Two-Factor Authentication in Oracle Solaris
- Software Cryptographic Providers for Smart Cards
- Hardware Readers for Smart Cards
- Smart Card Architecture in Oracle Solaris
- Configuring an Oracle Solaris System for Smart Card Login
- Main Smart Card Configuration Tasks
- Installing Smart Card Packages
- How to Install the Smart Card Packages
- Using pcsclite for Smart Cards
- Configuring libccid for Smart Card Readers
- How to Configure and Debug libccid
- Configuring a Desktop for Users With Smart Cards
- Configuring OCSP Certificates for Smart Cards
- How to Configure and Validate Certificates
- Configuring PAM for Smart Cards
- Configuring Secure Shell Clients for Smart Cards
- How to Configure the Secure Shell Client for Smart Cards
- Enabling an Oracle Solaris System for Smart Card Login
- How to Enable Smart Card Authentication
- Enabling Your Web Browser and Email to Use Your Smart Card
- Using a Smart Card
- Chapter 8 Using One-Time Passwords for Multifactor Authentication in Oracle Solaris
- About OTP in Oracle Solaris
- OTP Administration in Oracle Solaris
- Configuring and Using OTP in Oracle Solaris
- Chapter 9 Configuring Network Services Authentication
- About Secure RPC
- NFS Services and Secure RPC
- Kerberos Authentication
- DES Encryption With Secure NFS
- Diffie-Hellman Authentication and Secure RPC
- Administering Authentication With Secure RPC
- Authentication Services Glossary
- Index