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Generate an SSH key for accessing a virtual application on PureApplication System or Workload Deployer using PuTTY on Windows

Question & Answer


Question

What are my options for generating an SSH key for accessing a virtual application on a PureApplication System or IBM Workload Deployer?

Answer

To access deployed virtual machines for troubleshooting and maintenance purposes, you must set up SSH key-based access with an RSA key pair.

You can either provide your own externally generated public key or use a key pair that is generated by the system. Once you have generated the key pair, you can install the public key during virtual application pattern deployment and give the private key to those who are permitted to access the virtual machines for debugging and maintenance.

For instructions on using the system to generate an SSH key pair, see Managing SSH key-based access.

Use the following instructions to generate an SSH key pair using PuTTY on Windows:

    Note the following before you begin:
    • To use the PuTTY client, download it from the PuTTY web site. Contact the focal point on the PuTTY site if you need assistance with the download or installation process. Install the client on the computer you will use to access the virtual machines.
    • OpenSSL must be installed if you are using a private key generated by the system. If Cygwin, you can use the OpenSSL package provided in that environment. Binary distributions of OpenSSL for Windows are also available from a number of open source projects. For more information, see OpenSSL Downloads.
To generate the SSH key pair:
  1. Start the PuTTYgen program.
  2. In the Parameters section of the window, ensure SSH-2 RSA is selected.
  3. Click Generate to generate a new key pair.
  4. Click Save private key to save the private key.
  5. Save the public key by copying and pasting the key into a new text file.

Note: Do not use the "Save public key" button to save the public key. The format saved by PuTTYgen is not compatible with the OpenSSH format. Use these steps instead:
  1. Copy the text in the public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file to the Windows clipboard.
  2. Open a text editor and paste the key into a new file. Save the public key file.

When you are ready to enable SSH key-based access, the text in your saved public key file will be used to enable access on virtual machines. After the public key is uploaded to virtual machines, you can use the generated private key with PuTTY to connect to the virtual machines.

Related Information

Managing SSH key-based access

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Document Information

Modified date:
15 June 2018

UID

swg21614066

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