Why would you need to avoid entering a password when you use SSH? Typing in your password each time you log in is tedious. You may also need to call ssh from within a shell script.
These instructions are not specific to the APC computing cluster (APCSSH and APCCLM) . They will work on any Unix-like operating system.
You already have an APC account with a login name, which I shall call APClogin. I assume you have already succesfully logged into your APC account using your password. Write down your password somewhere, case you need it.
If you are using Mac OS X, you can do all of the steps below in Terminal. If you are using Windows, you need an ssh client such as PuTTY .
LocalLogin stands for the login name on your local machine.
Here’s how to do it.
1: Generate the authentication keys
Type the following in your terminal window.
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa
You will get a message saying:
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/LocalLogin/.ssh/id_rsa):
If you wish to change the default location, go ahead and specify a file path. Better to keep it simple, and just press Enter.
You will get this message asking for a password (“passphrase”). Do not enter one. Just press Enter, twice.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
If you did everything properly you will get a message giving the file path to the keys, and the key fingerprint:
Your identification has been saved in /Users/LocalLogin/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /Users/LocalLogin/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
SHA256:dWitjNhmrttyt7oCFmYdsu6wdA6Y5yao8UuoZ7Zzgnjsi22Q LocalLogin@apcdhcp24.in2p3.fr
The key's randomart image is:
+---[RSA 2048]----+
| |
| . |
| . . O .|
| . o o O + |
| S o B * =|
| ... . + o = = |
| Ho. . o = . .|
|o=+O.o .. o + o |
|o=O+*. ..+ .|
+----[SHA256]-----+
2: Create a .ssh directory on apcssh
Next, you need to create a .ssh directory on apcssh.in2p3.fr by typing:
$ ssh APClogin@apcssh.in2p3.fr mkdir -p .ssh
You will be asked for your password (that is why you need to have it written down somewhere). Type it in.
APClogin@apcssh.in2p3.fr's password:
3. Append your local public key to the authorised keys on apcssh
Enter the line below. You will then be asked for your password, which you need to enter.
$ cat .ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh APClogin@apcssh.in2p3.fr 'cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys'
APClogin@apcssh.in2p3.fr's password:
4. Done
Now you should be able to log into apccsh.in2p3.fr using the usual ssh command without entering a password.
Doing the same for the APC cluster
If the above works, you can log into apcclm following the same steps, except that you need to log into apccssh first.
In summary:
1. Log into apccsh (which you can now do without a password)
2. Generate the authentication keys
3. Create a .ssh directory on apcclm by typing
$ ssh APClogin@apcclm mkdir -p .ssh
4. And you’re done