SSH Client

Installation

By default Debian | Ubuntu doesn't include any SSH server.

apt-get install ssh openssh-server

SSH server configuration

Edit the configuration file:

vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

X11 forwarding

In the configuration file, uncomment and set:

ForwardAgent yes
ForwardX11 yes
ForwardX11Trusted yes

Enable | Disable the forwarding:

# This server doesn’t have a XServer. Therefore do not forward graphical data.
X11Forwarding no

Port(s) number

You can listen on multiple port. Just do the following:

Port 22
Port 2200

Security psycho mode:

# The default port SSH is 22. You may want to change that port to another one so your server will be more discreet.
# NB: if your server is hosted the provider might need access for maintenance purposes.
Port XXXXX

Restart SSH server

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

Security

Firewall

See Firewall#SSH

Fail2ban

see Fail2ban#SSH_configuration

SSH server configuration - Authentication by Linux user login / password

Principle

This is the default authentication system.

Each user that has a local account on the server and member is allowed to access the SSH server with its login / password.

Configuration changes

vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Protocol and password enforcement

Protocol 2			# only use SSH v2
PermitRootLogin no		# Avoid root connections
PermitEmptyPassword no	        # Forbidden user with empty passwords

Login time

# Time to log
LoginGraceTime 30

Restart SSH server

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

SSH server configuration - Authentication with RSA keys

Introduction

If you’d like to increase the authentication process you can use authentication by private/public key.

• Generate new private / public keys on your own computer
• Put the public key on the remote SSH server
• Only the person with the private key can be authenticate on the server

For instance, this is how hosting company such as OVH can log on your system.

Security improvement: remove password authentication

When the key authentication is working you can remove the default access by login / password. Then, only people with a valid private/public key pair can log in.

That way, there is no way for brute-force attacks to be successful, so your system is more secure.

Declare the public key on the server

You have to:

• log in to your SSH server with the user that’s gonna use this key
• Go to user's home directory
• Create a .ssh folder (if there was none before).

cd ~
mkdir .ssh
cd .ssh

Add the new public key to the list of allowed keys:

vim authorized_key

Prefix your key with:

• RSA: ssh-rsa
• DSA: ssh-dss

Then paste the public key in one line - the public key mustn't be change or separated in 2 lines!

# Example: 
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EA[...]Lg5whU0zMuYE5IZu8ZudnP6ds= myname@example.com
ssh-dss AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EA[...]Lg5whU0zMuYE5IZu8ZudnP6ds= myname@example.com

Adjust file rights, the authorized_keys file must be write/readable only by that user

chmod 640 authorized_keys
cd ..
chmod 700 .ssh

Configuration changes

vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Allow empty password

PermitEmptyPassword yes	        # allow empty password in favor of RSA keys

Restart SSH server

/etc/init.d/ssh restart

SSH server - Authentication using LDAP server

Requirement: LDAP server

Principle

The idea is to use a LDAP server to manage users and groups to ease the maintenance and administration.

• Only 1 group of users is allowed to connect

• Access can be dynamically and easily granted

Configuration

!! TO BE DONE !!

How-to generate private / public keys

Linux

Create key

1. Log-in with the user you want to use.

2. Generate a pair of authentication keys.

# Generating public/private rsa key pair
ssh-keygen -t rsa

>> Enter file in which to save the key: /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa

Log sample:

Created directory '/home/a/.ssh'.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): 
Enter same passphrase again: 
Your identification has been saved in /home/a/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/a/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
3e:4f:05:79:3a:9f:96:7c:3b:ad:e9:58:37:bc:37:e4

Summary

• id_rsa == private key
• id_rsa.pub == public key

Convert OpenSSH key to Windows Putty

See: http://meinit.nl/using-your-openssh-private-key-in-putty

Windows

You can generate private / public keys with PuttyGen = Putty key generator.

When the keys are OK, you have to enter a key pass-phrase. Your pass-phrase must be:

• long (> 15 characters)
• hard to guess
• with letters + signs + numbers

Reminder

how to choose your passphrase and protect it: http://www.alcf.anl.gov/resource-guides/user-authentication-policies

Then, save your keys! You should be the only one to access the save location.

SSH client

Linux

Standard login

# syntax
ssh user@server -p portNumber

# example
ssh root@daxiongmao.eu -p 4422

Windows

You have to use Putty to perform SSH login.

How to add a public / private key in Putty ?

1.Create profile

2. Auto-login

3. Attach private key

4. Save profile

References

Source:

• Public / private key theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Key_Cryptography
• http://www.howtoforge.com/ssh_key_based_logins_putty

Windows - putty software: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html

How to transform a SSH key into Windows Putty: http://meinit.nl/using-your-openssh-private-key-in-putty