Creating and Importing SSH Keys

From TDiWiki

1. Select your key type, enter the number of bits, and then click the ‘Generate’ button. You will notice here that we are generating a 1024-bit DSA key. Through testing we noticed that the Putty Key Generator will allow you to create a 2048-bit (or greater) DSA key and ConsoleWorks will import it though this is technically against the SSH key standard we sent you earlier. Use your best judgement to create the key type that will best suit your needs.

2. Once the tool finishes generating the key, copy the text out of the ‘public key for pasting’ text area (see highlight below) and paste it into your favorite text editor. Save this file with the name convention filename.pub. This will be your public key. If you choose to set a passphrase for your private key, you can do so at this point. When setting up your Consoles using the SSH Session with Public Key connector, you will enter the passphrase in the password field of Connection Details rolldown (see step 5).

3. To generate the private key, select the ‘Export OpenSSH key’ from the Conversions menu item. When saving your private key file, give it a name but do not use a file extension.

4. Once you have saved your private and public key files, you can import them into ConsoleWorks by going to ADMIN > Server Management > SSH Keys in the left-hand menu. Click on the Import Key tab, assign a name to the key pair, browse for each file, and then click the Import Key button. You should receive a message box stating ‘Uploaded Keys’ and then you will see the key in the SSH Keys box.

5. In ConsoleWorks, add a Console and choose the SSH Session with Public Key connector. If you used a passphrase when generating the private key, enter it into the Password field. Choose your SSH key pair from the pulldown using the name you gave it when importing into ConsoleWorks.