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Working with the Key Agent

Key Agent Passphrase

You are prompted for a passphrase the first time you use the Key Agent. Use this phrase whenever you need to unlock the agent.

A passphrase is similar to a password, except it can be a phrase with a series of words, punctuation, numbers, white space, or any string of characters you want. Passphrases improve security by limiting access to secure objects, such as private keys and the Reflection Key Agent.

Good passphrases are 10-30 characters long, are not simple sentences or otherwise easily guessable, and contain a mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and non-alphanumeric characters. The passphrase is case-sensitive.

note

  • Use Change Passphrase to change your passphrase.
  • There is no way to recover a lost passphrase. If the passphrase is lost or forgotten, you can reset the Key Agent using the Reset button in the Change Passphrase dialog box. When you do this you lose all the keys stored in the agent.

Change Passphrase Dialog Box

Getting there
  1. Start the Key Agent.
  2. Select Change Passphrase.

Use Change Passphrase to change the passphrase you use to unlock the Key Agent.
Reset There is no way to recover a lost passphrase. If the passphrase is lost or forgotten, you can use the Reset button to clear the current passphrase.

NOTE: Using Reset will also destroy all the keys in the agent. If you added keys to the agent using Import, the original keys remain available after a reset, protected by their original passphrase.

Lock or Unlock the Key Agent

When the Agent is locked, you cannot add, modify, or use the Key Agent keys. If you attempt to connect to a host that is configured to use keys in the agent, you will be prompted for your passphrase.

When you unlock the agent, it remains unlocked until you lock it, shut down the agent, or log off Windows.

To lock the Key Agent

  • From Reflection Key Agent, choose the Lock button.

To unlock the Key Agent

  • From Reflection Key Agent, choose the Unlock button, and then enter the passphrase.

-or-

  1. Connect to a host that is configured to authenticate using the Key Agent.

  2. When prompted, enter the correct passphrase.

note

There is no way to recover a lost passphrase. If the passphrase is lost or forgotten, you can reset the Key Agent using the Reset button in the Change Passphrase dialog box. When you do this you lose all the keys stored in the agent.

Hide and View the Key Agent

To hide the Key Agent window

  • From the File menu, click Hide. The key agent continues to run in the background.

note

Whenever the Key Agent is running, the Key Agent icon is visible in the Windows system tray.

To view the Key Agent window after it has been hidden

  • Right-click the Key Agent icon, and select Open Reflection Key Agent.

Stop the Key Agent

Do one of the following:

  • From the Key Agent File menu, select Exit.

  • Right-click the Key Agent icon in the system tray, then select Exit.

  • Log off Windows.

View the Key Agent Log File

From the View menu, choose Log.