Mac/Linux/Windows(PowerShell)

Step 1 : Check for existing SSH key pair

Before generating new SSH key pair first check if you have an SSH key on your local machine.

ls ~/.ssh/id_*.pub

If there are existing keys, please move to Step 3

Step 2 : Generate a new SSH Keypair

Mac/Linux

ssh-keygen -t rsa

Windows (PowerShell)

ssh-keygen.exe

Press Enter to accept the default file location and file name.

The ssh-keygen will ask you to type a secure passphrase. This is optional. If you don't want to use a passphrase just press Enter

Verify the SSH keys are generated correctly, you should see two files id_rsa and id_rsa.pub under ~/.ssh directory.

DO NOT upload or send the private key.

Step 3 : Copy the public key to Oscar

You will now need to copy your public key to Oscar. There are two ways to acomplish this.

With ssh-copy-id

If your OS comes with the ssh-copy-id utility, then you'll be able to copy your public key into Oscar as follows:

ssh-copy-id <username>@ssh.ccv.brown.edu

You will be prompted for a Password. The public key will be appended to the authorized_keys file on Oscar.

If you used a custom name for your key instead of the default id_rsa then you'll need pass the name of your key to ssh-copy-id i.e.,

ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/<keyname> <username>@ssh.ccv.brown.edu

Without ssh-copy-id

If your system does not come with the ssh-copy-id utility installed, then you'll need to copy your public key by hand.

1. Get the contents of id_rsa.pub file. One option is to use cat in your teminal cat id_rsa.pub.

2. Copy the contents of this file to your clipboard, as we need to upload it to Oscar.

3. Login into Oscar via regular ssh ssh <username>@ssh.ccv.brown.edu. Once you are on the login node, open the authorized_keys file with your text editor of choice e.g., vim ~/.ssh/authorized_keys or nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys Add your public keys to end of this file. Save and exit.

Step 4 : Login to Oscar using your SSH keys

ssh <username>@sshcampus.ccv.brown.edu

If everything went well, you will be logged in immediately withouth prompting you for a password.