SSH Keys

Overview

SSH Keys are used to establish secure client-server connections via SSH (secure shell) to running instances in the cloud. An SSH Key pair consists of both public and private key material.

v4 and v5 RightImages behave differently with respect to SSH Keys. v5 RightImages are said to be "RightLink enabled". v4 RightImages (pre-RightLink) rely heavier on SSH Keys. If you are launching instances using v4 RightImages, RightScale will use the SSH Key in order to run RightScripts on the instance. Therefore, it's important that you only use SSH Keys where the private key material is available and not missing. Otherwise RightScale will not be able to run any RightScripts on the instance to complete the boot process thereby resulting in a Server that "strands" in booting. If you are using v5 (or later) RightImages, RightScale's Managed SSH feature will be used to establish SSH access and RightLink will be used to run RightScripts on the instance. You can either use the unique SSH Key that RightScale generates for each user or upload your own SSH Key.

Fields

• Name - Name of the SSH Key. Clicking the Name hyperlink takes you to that SSH Key's show page. Note: Some entities don't have unique names in their respective clouds. In particular, SSH Keys are like this in some clouds (for example, in some private clouds). This is why RightScale created an RSID. The RSID is held unique within an account (within a timeframe). From a practical perspective, this means an SSH Key can be created and named "Test". You won't be able to create another one in the same account called "Test". You can, however, delete the SSH Key and create a new one called "Test". It will have different key material and will not SSH into already launched Servers that used the prior "Test" SSH Key.
• Key Material - Refers to the public/private key pair used for SSH Keys. Set to either "yes" or "no". "Yes" means that RightScale possesses the private key material for that SSH key, and can SSH into any running instance that trusts that key. This is normally the case if the SSH Key was either created from the Dashboard, or manually added to it. "No" means that the RightScale database does not contain the private key; although you can launch instances that trust that key, you cannot SSH into those instances directly from the Dashboard. Important! Even if RightScale knows the private key material, it is only displayed in the Dashboard's Private Key field for the user who created it, or accounts with 'admin' privileges.
• Resource UID - Resource Unique IDentifier for the SSH Key. To tie this back into the "Name" discussion above, some clouds use the Name of SSH Key as the Resource UID. This is why the Name and Resource UID match. The RS_ID for non-sharable entities (such as SSH Keys) is unique and random. Note: This is a RightScale only concept that guarantees uniqueness while leaving no security loopholes with respect to implementation.

Actions

• New - Create a new SSH Key pair whereby the cloud generates the key pair for you.
• Delete - Delete an existing SSH KEY pair.

Actions

Concepts

See also

Related FAQs