Creating ssh keys for Windows

SSH keys allow for improved access to Research Computing clusters by bypassing the need for 2Factor authentication. Adding your public key to the cluster will allow tools such as Filezilla, ssh, putty and others to more quickly and easily connect. 

  1. To generate a key pair use PuTTY’s generation tool called “PuTTYgen”
  2. Once Launched make sure RSA is selected in the bottom left, then click “Generate”
  3. Move your mouse around the blank area near the progress bar to add randomness to the key
  4. Enter a keyphrase and confirm it (not necessary but recommended)
  5. Click “Save private key” and save it
  6. Click “Save public key”
  7. Copy the whole Public key on the top of the generator
  8. Open https://ondemand.hpc.fau.edu/
  9. Login
  10. Click the tab “Clusters” and select “Koko 3 Shell Access”
  11. Type cd .ssh
    1. If .ssh does not exist do the following commands:
    2. mkdir .ssh
    3. chmod 700 .ssh
  12. Use the editor of your choice (vi, vim, nano) and edit authorized_keys ex. vi authorized_keys (do not to delete anything in this file)
  13. Paste the copied public key at the end of the file and save it.
    1. If .ssh did not exist in step 11: 
      • After editing authorized_keys do the following command: chmod 600 authorized_keys
  14. Go here for next steps on how to ssh to Koko.
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