Reflection Desktop Help & HowTo > Secure Connections > Secure Shell Connections > Public Key Authentication > Reflection Key Agent > Managing Keys and Certificates > Upload Keys to the Server

Upload Keys to the Server

Secure Shell key authentication uses a public/private key pair. The public key must be added to the authorized keys on a host before you can authenticate to that host using the key pair. You can use the Key Agent to make the upload process easy. The agent automatically determines what kind of Secure Shell server is running on the host you specify, exports your public key using the correct key type for that host, and installs it (using SFTP) to the correct location for the user you specify.

The public key is transferred using the secure SFTP protocol. You will need the ability to use password authentication in order to upload the public key.

To upload the public key to the server

  1. Start and unlock the Key Agent.

  2. Select the key you want to use for authentication to the server, and click Upload.

  3. Enter the name of the host to which you are uploading the key. (In most cases you can leave SSH config scheme blank. The Key Agent makes a Secure Shell connection to the host in order to upload the key. The SSH configuration scheme you specify determines which SSH settings are used for this connection.) Click OK.

  4. When prompted, enter the name and password of the user who will authenticate to the host using the key.

    After the secure connection to the host has been established, a dialog box appears displaying information about where on the host Reflection will upload this key. In most cases you do not need to change these settings. See the notes below for more information.

NOTE:

  • Upload is not available if the Key Agent is locked.

  • The Upload Public Key dialog box displays information about the transfer. Click OK to close this dialog box.

  • Keys uploaded to hosts running Reflection for Secure IT, F-Secure, and SSH Communications (SSH Tectia) servers are exported to SECSH format. By default these are installed to the user's .ssh2 directory and an appropriate KEY entry is made in the authorization file. If this file did not previously exist, it is created and given appropriate file permissions.

  • Keys uploaded to hosts running OpenSSH servers are exported using OPENSSH format. By default they are added to the authorized_keys file located in the user's .ssh2 directory. If this file did not previously exist, it is created and given appropriate file permissions.