Re: Auto ssh

From: Adrian Bridgett (adrian.bridgett_at_gmail.com)
Date: 08/31/05 

Date: 30 Aug 2005 16:13:13 -0700

Alternatively, _do_ use a passphrase, but use an ssh-agent too!
Process (from memory), machines A and B.

A: ssh-keygen -t dsa
(type passphrase)

Then copy ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub on machine A to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on
machine B. Technically you want to append this to authorized_keys.

Alternatively you can use this command to do this for you:
ssh-copy-id B
(type _password_ for B)

Now the ssh-agent part. Basically you run an ssh-agent on machine A,
then you tell it the passphrase which it remembers. When you then run
ssh it queries the agent and types in the password for you :-) You can
then get scripts to talk to the agent and tell it to forget the
password (e.g. when the screensaver activates) or in fact tell the
agent to forget the passphrases after so long.

So in my .profile I have:
eval `ssh-agent -s`

Then when I want to ssh, I type in "ssh-add" and type in the
passphrase. Then all the ssh's I do work automatically with no
passphrase required. I've then combined this with a program called dsh
(similar, but not identical to PSSPs one) and can now run commands
across many machines simultaneously but at the same time pretty darn
securely.

.shost definitely not required. Just ensure permissions are pretty
tight on the files, ssh can be very picky (quite right too!)

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