Using a Windows machine

First install SecureCRT, you can download it for free from OIT.

There are 2 ways to authenticate, either with a regular password (simple), or with a public/private key pair. 

Simple password login

  • Open SecureCRT, you'll be presented with the "Quick Connect" screen.
  • Choose protocol "ssh2".
  • Enter the name of the CoC machine you wish to connect to in the "HostName" box.
  • Type your username in the "Username" box.
  • Click "Connect".
  • A new window will open, and you'll be prompted for your password.

Logging in with public/private key pair

Before you can use this method you must create a public/private key pair Open SecureCRT, you'll be presented with the "Quick Connect" screen.

  • Choose protocol "ssh2".
  • In the "Authentication" area, change "Primary" to "Public Key", click on "Properties".
  • When the "Key Generation Wizard" pops up click "Next".
  • In the "Public Key Properties" screen, click on "Create Identity File".
  • Choose key type of "RSA", hit "Next"
  • Come up with a passphrase (a password) and enter it twice here.
  • Leave the default comment as is, then click "Next"
  • Change the key length to 2048, then hit "Next"
  • On the next screen, it will instruct you to move your mouse around until the progress bar fills up. This is necessary for Secure CRT to generate random numbers. This process will take about a minute, and probably seems annoying, but its a one time thing. Just keep moving your mouse around on the screen (don't click on anything) until it tells you its done. When its completed the "Next" button will ungray, click it.
  • Finally, you are asked where to save the key, leave the default location.
  • Click Next.

This will produce the file C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\VanDyke\Identity.pub, which looks like this:


---- BEGIN SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----Subject: userComment: "user@machine"AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQC76CgCjsxVwzie3g6xql2zaBLQn71wBKf3183h4CBM51Qy0vXRL9RwR/0vnAnBGxP8/X/tdZLb0DIBrsbxleLR/jDx15Yaq9KorD/Ky2SSrSdSKj6Rfabq5tLVM0FQht/U9EhOPkG0GNpQSy6SrS8XEEkn1cDAdNzzRSF6E6nvfkjld0gX2+F8vQhR/QY02QfjdksalfJC7wbFVaby5IdqCBYbvvxR7xZYykh5uPCQzJkv1841JDY4ScRAQ1NjbaC53fVYDGJiJH1GSbIE83M1gOHCFPL1S/bKV7VNlfhsdafhY8919HHj3s6K/8vFP0tcfw0XfE7f82kx84KxyHl1---- END SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----

Unfortunately thats not quite the format it needs to be in on your CoC account. Open the file in notepad:

  • Remove the "---- BEGIN SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----" and "---- END SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----" lines
  • Remove the Subject line
  • Remove the Comment line
  • Insert "ssh-rsa " at the front of the first line of the key. (Be sure you leave a space after ssh-rsa and before the actual key
  • Join all the lines into one line.

Finally, upload that file to your CoC account, and append it the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys.

Note: The key is all one line, even though secureCRT creates it as multiple lines, be sure to join them together before appending to your .ssh/authorized_keys file.

Your done, you should now be able to connect from your machine to any CoC machine. SecureCRT will require you to enter the passphrase to decrypt your private key the first time you connect to any machine in each windows login. Subsequent logins will happen without passwords.

 

Using a Mac/Unix Machine

If you are using OS X or Unix/Linux, the procedure is the same for both. OS X and Unix/Linux come with an ssh client installed. To login with simple username and password, open a shell and type:

ssh -l username killerbee1.cc.gatech.edu

replacing "killerbee1" with the name of whatever machine you're trying to log into.