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SSH Key Pairs |
In certain circumstances, it is advantageous to use public / private SSH keys to authenticate with the Agave API. Specifically, this is important when creating your own private systems. Having SSH keys will make it easier to interact with systems that do not allow password authentication or that require frequent password changes, and it will increase security by preventing the need to store your password in a plain text file.
If you are new to the Agave CLI and the SD2E Agave tenant, it is recommended to skip this section of the documents until you need to create your own private systems.
#### Prerequisites
For this example, we will demonstrate how to generate keys for an Atmosphere VM instance on Jetstream, although these instructions are generic and can be applied to most systems. We need:
- Hostname / IP address for target system
- User account and login credentials for target system
#### Log in to the remote system
First, remotely log in to the system on which you plan to make a private HPC or STORAGE system:
% ssh [email protected]
[email protected]'s password:
Welcome to
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/ _ \| __| '_ ` _ \ / _ \/ __| '_ \| '_ \ / _ \ '__/ _ \
/ ___ \ |_| | | | | | (_) \__ \ |_) | | | | __/ | | __/
/_/ \_\__|_| |_| |_|\___/|___/ .__/|_| |_|\___|_| \___|
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[js-104-39] %
#### Generate SSH keys
Next, generate a secure set of RSA SSH keys using the Linux utility ssh-keygen.
Here, we call the public / private key pair 'agave_rsa', and we only use it for
this system, and only for Agave:
[js-104-39] % ssh-keygen -q -t rsa -b 4096 -C [email protected] -f agave_rsa -N ''
[js-104-39] % cat agave_rsa
-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIJJwIBAAKCAgEA1kto/IyPDmXR4Rk/I0ubRqV/IF5haHF3MI1yBMwxKJ6d7Wr7
BDFIbFH/CiAYiMsUUier5E1/HsRwYCrmOIvWI9VAGYpHLWw6YE62Z1SiE1yatELM
5ISf22w256BLyNcgI5l5L1CEXd6ChbPF0hYiWrp5a06gggZPLwjjbyVwOqztn0mB
HkzovrhdtyGmThnjBJVmcAXylsxGKwyARmcvmJl53L3/Ci5nYTCaIr4SZwRR8108
V4/BF9NNm9VEfyI2q4/DH5/lKFvNm59V7zRZ0kSWq84BN1OxImjlS9Mzj8lLEYBT
KYouxn1FHnbhhi2hCGRMeDnopv6+Z9/4bdPdTY3TXSy9bqL+Q280Z+taydVa3BeH
+gbFBzKVltICntO5KKmmNBknL8ULPvpbeaY/yTKiCJVkOElhweoRqrzEtNMqX19q
...etc
[js-104-39] % cat agave_rsa.pub
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAgEA1kto/IyPDmXR4Rk/I0ubRqV/IF5h
...etc
#### Authorize public key
Finally, add your public key to the authorized_keys file on your remote system:
[js-104-39] % cat agave_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
Your private key (agave_rsa) will be used in the future when it is time to
create your own private systems. Never share your
private key with anyone else.
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