[plug] SSH

[Colin Muller]

> Linux wrote:
> 
> Hi all I'M still playing with ssh but I am still a little confused
> I have been able to connect to my Linux box via windows 98 using ssh
> but only if I allow password authentication

ssh-keygen will create a public and a private key. Copy the public one
into the file $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server and put the
private one wherever it needs to be on the Win98 client (ssh-keygen will
put both into $HOME/.ssh on a Linux client).

> 1) Where and what would be the command to automatically start sshd on
> a reboot

The way I've done it is to put this line:
/usr/local/sbin/sshd
into /etc/rc.d/rc.local
Other ways may make more sense depending on your circumstances

> 2) If I modify the sshd_config file how do I restart the sshd to
> accept the new changes

I imagine:
killall sshd
/usr/local/sbin/sshd
(as root)

> 3) Does the remote ssh client need to parse the public key ( I have
> not done this or know how perhaps this is why I had to enable
> passwords authentication.)

Yes, the server needs to parse that key - that works as per my response
to your first paragraph above.

You may also need
- To create a $HOME/.shosts file on the server (and client if it's
Linux) containing the canonical name of the client you're logging in
from (on the client, it should have the name of the server you're
connecting to)
- To get the permissions sufficiently strict on .shosts, $HOME/.ssh and
the files in $HOME/.ssh. Basically, nothing should be writable except by
the owner, and private keys shouldn't even be readable by anyone except
the owner.

Colin