SSH Tectia

Uploading Public Keys Automatically (Windows)

Public keys can be uploaded automatically to servers that have the SFTP subsystem enabled. The automatic upload can be done on the Keys and Certificates page of SSH Tectia Configuration GUI.

To enable public-key authentication with your key pair:

  1. Open the SSH Tectia Configuration GUI by right-clicking the SSH Tectia tray icon and selecting Configuration from the shortcut menu.

  2. Click User Authentication → Keys and Certificates on the tree view.

  3. Select a key pair from the list and click Upload. The Upload Public Key dialog box opens. See Figure 5.8.

    Uploading a key

    Figure 5.8. Uploading a key

  4. Enter the following information:

    • Either select Quick connect and enter the host and user name of the remote host you want to upload the key to, or select a Connection profile that specifies the host and user name.

    • Enter the public key filename. The public key filename you selected on the Keys and Certificates page is pre-filled and normally you do not need to change it.

    • Enter the destination folder on the server, relative to the user home directory (%USERPROFILE% on Windows, $HOME on Unix). The default is .ssh2.

    • Enter the name of the authorization file. The default is authorization in the defined destination folder directory.

    • The key name is automatically added to the authorization file on the server. If you want to view and edit the file, select the View authorization file check box.

    Click Upload to start the upload.

  5. If you are already connected to the remote server host, the key upload starts immediately. If you are not connected, you will be prompted to authenticate on the server (by default with password).

  6. Make sure that public-key authentication is allowed in the Connection Broker configuration, in the default settings and in the relevant connection profile (it is allowed by default). See Defining Authentication and Defining Authentication.

[Note]Note

The automatic key uploading process uses SFTP.

The key user is required to have the read permissions to the to the key directory on the server, otherwise the automatic upload will fail. The administrator of the remote host computer may have restricted user access so that users are not able to configure public-key authentication for themselves even if public-key authentication is allowed in the server configuration.

Even if the automatic upload succeeds, it is possible that the server administrator has configured the system to store keys elsewhere than under the user home directory. In this case the keys and the authorization file additions have to be moved manually to the proper directory.

If you do not use the automatic upload facility, see Uploading Public Keys Manually.