[Contents] [Index]

About This Document>>     Installing SSH Tectia Client >>     Getting Started >>     Configuring SSH Tectia Client >>         Defining Profile Settings >>         Defining Global Settings >>             Defining the Appearance             Selecting the Font             Defining Messages             Authenticating Users             Managing Keys             Managing Custom Keys             Managing Certificates             Using SSH Accession Lite             Managing PKCS #11 Providers             Authenticating Servers             Managing Host Keys             Managing CA Certificates             Defining LDAP Servers             Defining Advanced File Transfer Options             Defining File Transfer Mode             Defining Proxy Settings             Defining Security Settings             Printing         Editing the Configuration Files >>         Using Command-Line Options         Customizing the User Interface>>     Connecting to a Remote Host Computer>>     Transferring Files>>     Tunneling Applications>>     GUI Reference>>     Troubleshooting >>     Command-Line Tools >>

Managing Keys

Key pairs used for user public-key authentication can be managed using the Keys page of the Settings dialog.

Before you can use public-key authentication, you must generate a key pair for yourself. Then you must upload your public key to your home directory on the remote host computer. You also have to modify your authorization file to allow connecting with the new key. For more information, see Section Generating Keys.

Note: Your private keys should always be kept secret. This is important to remember if you are sharing your local computer with other users. In such a case, it is not advisable to store your private keys on the local disk, or a directory that will be replicated over a network (as when using the Windows roaming profiles functionality).

For more information on user key files, see Section Using Public-Key Authentication.

Figure : The Keys page of the Settings dialog

Private key file list

The private key file list (located above the buttons on the Keys page) shows the files used to store your private keys. The public keys are not displayed, as they have the same file names as the private keys, but with .pub as the file extension.

• Private Key File Name

  The Private Key File Name column displays the file names of your private keys.

• Comment

  The Comment column displays the comments (if any) associated with your private keys.

Buttons:

Below the private key list there are several buttons that can be used to administer your key files:

• Generate New...

  Click the Generate New... button to create a new public and private user key pair. This will bring up the Key Generation wizard. For more information on this procedure, see section Key Generation Wizard.)

• Import...

  Click Import... to import a keypair. The Import Keypair - Select Files dialog will open, allowing you to locate the keypair to be imported.

• Delete

  Select a key file from the private key file list and click Delete to delete the key file from your local computer.

• Change Passphrase...

  Select a private key file from the private key file list and click Change Passphrase... to change the passphrase for the key.

• Export...

  Select a key file from the private key file list and click Export... to export the key pair. A Select Folder dialog will open, allowing you to specify the target location.

• Upload...

  Clicking Upload... while connected to a remote server will automatically upload the selected public key. For more information on this procedure, see Section Uploading Your Public Key.

• View...

  Select a previously generated private key file from the private key file list and click View... to display the corresponding public key. The public key file will be displayed in Notepad.

• Configure...

  Click the button to write to the identification file that is used by the command-line tool ssh2.exe to specify which keys can be used for authentication. All the keys listed in the private key list will be included in the identification file. If you want to disable some keys, you can manually delete them from the identication file.

  The identification file will be placed in the user settings folder. The actual directory is displayed on the Profile Settings page of the Settings dialog. See Defining Profile Settings.

  If a previous version of the identification file already exists, it will be overwritten. A confirmation dialog will be displayed asking you to verify that you want to do this.

  For more information on the ssh2.exe command-line version of the client, see Appendix SSH2.