How I set up new machines | Setting ssh keys and shell
Updated on: April 2, 2020 ·
4 mins read
Losing access to your ssh key is one of the most dreadful situations for a developer. You will spend your full day creating the new ssh key getting the access to all machines back after you create this new ssh key.
Creating a config for handling access to all the boxes
1. Creating a config for handling access to all the boxes
2. Prologue (I have been using the same ssh key since this long)
3. How I have been using the same ssh key?
4. Allowing ssh into Ubuntu Device
5. Allowing ssh into MAC machine
6. Getting a combination of iTerm and zsh
Working from my current company, I have access to a lot of boxes(EC2s). I have created a sample config file so that I keep which key is being used to access that particular box.
You can add something like this to your 2. Prologue (I have been using the same ssh key since this long)
3. How I have been using the same ssh key?
4. Allowing ssh into Ubuntu Device
5. Allowing ssh into MAC machine
6. Getting a combination of iTerm and zsh
~/.ssh/config file.
Host stage
User ubuntu
HostName 10.X.X.X
Host stage-job-box
User ubuntu
HostName 172.X.X.X
IdentityFile ~/new.pem
Host my-project
User ubuntu
HostName 13.X.X.X
Host my-project-jobs
User ubuntu
HostName 3.X.X.X
id_rsa.pem file to connect to the boxes unless you specify other IdentityFile with the path of the private key file.
Finally, you can ssh into the boxes using the command,
ssh stage
There are a lot of options which you can use to power this config file. Let me know in the comments section what other options you use.
Prologue (I have been using the same ssh key since this long)
I have been using the same ssh key for a while now. In between this time, I have faced a few challenges of changing jobs, SSD crashing a few times some random issues. Even after all those situations, the ssh key that I have used has never changed.How I have been using the same ssh key?
So, I have an old laptop that I keep at my place which contains the ssh key which I use for almost all the purposes. Note: We do have one more layer of security which involves VPN being connected to connect every box related to my current organization. Whenever I get a new machine, I get back to the same machine andssh into this old machine and get all of the required data from that machine using a combination of ssh and scp(Secure Copy).
Allowing ssh into Ubuntu Device
Forsshing into any machine, you need to open the port 22 of that machine. As that machine is a ubuntu machine,
The simplest way is to install OpenSSH onto the Ubuntu machine. Use the following command in Ubuntu.
sudo apt install openssh-server -y
While in the ubuntu machine try to run ifconfig to find out the IP of the machine on which you are on. Make sure that both of the machines are on the same wifi.
Once you are get the IP of the machine that you are looking for, find the scp command that suites you. One of my friend has written a good post for SCP commands. We will use one of those commands to get the file from that machine to my machine.
scp [email protected]:~/Desktop/ranvir.png ~/Desktop/.
This will get the file from the given machine and dump the file in the Desktop directory.
Allowing ssh into MAC machine
Something similar is applied to MAC devices as well. For allowing ssh into MAC devices you have to allowremote login on the device which you want to access. You can find the setting in preferences -> sharing.
After this, you can ssh into the machine and scp into the new device to get the required files.
Getting a combination of iTerm and zsh
I have a MAC machine for development and love to useiTerm and zsh for powering my shell.
Their command completion is very useful while programming and help us find the commands more easily.
You can directly download iTerm from their website.
ZSH is used to provide good visual touch to your system. I love the default shell theme they provide. Currently, you use the software by downloading using wget or curl.
Head to their website for more details.
zsh also adds some git aliases, which makes your life far easier as a developer.
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