Connecting to Your Linux Instance from Windows Using PuTTY
1. To
generate an RSA key pair to work with version 2 of the protocol, type the
following command at a shell prompt:
2. ssh-keygen -t rsa
[pravesh@localhost ~]$
ssh-keygen -t rsa
Generating public/private
rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to
save the key (/home/pravesh/.ssh/id_rsa): pravesh
Enter passphrase (empty
for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase
again:
Your identification has
been saved in pravesh.
Your public key has been
saved in pravesh.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
ed:5e:fb:5d:87:a2:12:ac:5d:98:1c:59:df:e3:81:1a
pravesh@localhost.localdomain
The key's randomart image
is:
+--[ RSA 2048]----+
| |
| .
|
| o . o
|
| o.E o +
|
| oS+.o . o |
| *.o
.. |
| o o. o . o|
| . o. o o .o|
| .o ... .|
+-----------------+
[pravesh@localhost ~]$ ls
-la
total 28
-rw------- 1 pravesh pravesh 1743 Apr 29 14:30 pravesh
-rw-r--r-- 1 pravesh pravesh 411 Apr 29 14:30 pravesh.pub
[pravesh@localhost ~]$
pwd
Accept the default file
location of ~/.ssh/id_rsa. Enter
a passphrase different from your account password and confirm it by entering it
again.
The public key is written
to /home/pravesh/pravesh.pub. The
private key is written to /home/pravesh/pravesh.
Never distribute your private key to anyone.
3. Change
the permissions of the .ssh directory
using the following command:
4. chmod 755 ~/.ssh
5. Copy
the contents of /home/pravesh/pravesh.pub into
the file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on
the machine to which you want to connect. If the file/home/pravesh/.ssh/authorized_keys exist,
append the contents of the file /home/pravesh/.ssh/id_rsa.pubto the
file /home/pravesh/.ssh/authorized_keys on
the other machine.
6. cat /home/pravesh/.ssh/pravesh.pub > /home/pravesh/.ssh/authorized_keys
7. Change
the permissions of the authorized_keys file
using the following command:
chmod 644 /home/pravesh/.ssh/authorized_keys
Before you connect to your Linux instance using PuTTY, complete
the following prerequisites:
·
Install PuTTY
Download and install
PuTTY from the PuTTY download page. If you already have an
older version of PuTTY installed, we recommend that you download the latest
version. Be sure to install the entire suite.
Converting Your Private Key Using PuTTYgen
Putty
does not natively support the private key format (.pem) generated by Amazon
EC2. PuTTY has a tool named PuTTYgen, which can convert keys to the required Putty
format (.ppk). You must convert your private key into this format (.ppk) before
attempting to connect to your instance using Putty.
- Start PuTTYgen (for example,
from the Start menu, click All Programs >
PuTTY > PuTTYgen).
- Under Type of key to
generate, select SSH-2 RSA.
- Click Load. By
default, PuTTYgen displays only files with the extension .ppk. To
locate your .pem file, select the option to display files of all
types.
4.
Select your .pem file for the key
pair that you specified when you launch your instance, and then click Open.
Click OK to dismiss the confirmation dialog box.
- Click Save private key to
save the key in the format that Putty can use. PuTTYgen displays a warning
about saving the key without a passphrase. Click Yes.
Note
A passphrase on a private key is an extra layer of protection,
so even if your private key is discovered, it can't be used without the
passphrase. The downside to using a passphrase is that it makes automation
harder because human intervention is needed to log on to an instance, or copy
files to an instance.
- Specify the same name for the
key that you used for the key pair (for example, my-key-pair).
PuTTY automatically adds the .ppk file extension.
Your
private key is now in the correct format for use with PuTTY. You can now
connect to your instance using PuTTY's SSH client.
To start a PuTTY session
- Start PuTTY (from the Start menu,
click All Programs > PuTTY > PuTTY).
- In the Category pane, select Session and
complete the following fields:
- In the Host Name box,
enter user_name@public_dns_name. Be sure to specify the appropriate user name for
your AMI. For example:
- For an Amazon Linux AMI, the
user name is ec2-user.
- For a RHEL5 AMI, the user
name is either root or ec2-user.
- For an Ubuntu AMI, the user
name is ubuntu.
- For a Fedora AMI, the user
name is either fedora or ec2-user.
- For SUSE Linux, the user name
is either root or ec2-user.
- Otherwise, if ec2-user and root don't
work, check with the AMI provider.
- Under Connection type,
select SSH.
- Ensure that Port is
22.
In
the Category pane, expand Connection, expand SSH,
and then select Auth. Complete the following:
- Click Browse.
- Select the .ppk file
that you generated for your key pair, and then click Open.
- (Optional) If you plan to start
this session again later, you can save the session information for future
use. Select Session in the Category tree,
enter a name for the session in Saved Sessions, and then click Save.
- Click Open to
start the PuTTY session.
- If this is the first time you
have connected to this instance, Putty displays a security alert dialog
box that asks whether you trust the host you are connecting to.
- (Optional) Verify that the
fingerprint in the security alert matches the fingerprint that you
obtained in step 1. If these fingerprints don't match, someone might be
attempting a "man-in-the-middle" attack. If they match, continue
to the next step.
- Click Yes. A window
opens and you are connected to your instance.
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