Running the PuTTY and plink utilities

Ensure that you are familiar with how to run the PuTTY and plink utilities.

The Secure Shell (SSH) protocol specifies that the first access to a new host server sends a challenge to the SSH user to accept the SSH server public key. Because this is the first time that you connect to an SSH server, the server is not included in the SSH client list of known hosts. Therefore, there is a fingerprint challenge, which asks if you accept the responsibility of connecting with this host. If you type y, the host fingerprint and IP address are saved by the SSH client.

When you use PuTTY, you must also type y to accept this host fingerprint. However, the host fingerprint and IP address are stored in the registry for the user name that is logged onto Windows®.

The SSH protocol also specifies that once the SSH server public key is accepted, another challenge is presented if the fingerprint of an SSH server changes from the one previously accepted. In this case, you must decide if you want to accept this changed host fingerprint.

Note: The SSH server keys on the SAN Volume Controller are regenerated when a microcode load is performed on the cluster. As a result, a challenge is sent because the fingerprint of the SSH server has changed.

All command-line interface (CLI) commands are run in an SSH session. You can run the commands in one of the following modes:

An interactive prompt mode
A single line command mode, which is entered one time to include all parameters

Interactive mode

For interactive mode, you can use the PuTTY executable to open the SSH restricted shell.

The following is an example of the command that you can issue to start interactive mode:

C:\support utils\putty admin@svcconsoleip

Where support utils\putty is the location of your putty.exe file and svcconsoleip is the IP address of your SAN Volume Controller Console.

If you were to issue the svcinfo lssshkeys command, which lists the SSH client public keys that are stored on the SAN Volume Controller cluster, the following output is displayed:

IBM_2145:your_cluster_name:admin>svcinfo lssshkeys -user all -delim :
id:userid:key identifier
1:admin:smith
2:admin:jones

You can type exit and press Enter to escape the interactive mode command.

The following is an example of the host fingerprint challenge when using plink in interactive mode:

C:\Program Files\IBM\svcconsole\cimom>plink admin@9.43.225.208
The server's host key is not cached in the registry. You
have no guarantee that the server is the computer you
think it is.
The server's key fingerprint is:
ssh-rsa 1024 e4:c9:51:50:61:63:e9:cd:73:2a:60:6b:f0:be:25:bf
If you trust this host, enter "y" to add the key to
PuTTY's cache and carry on connecting.
If you want to carry on connecting just once, without
adding the key to the cache, enter "n".
If you do not trust this host, press Return to abandon the
connection.
Store key in cache? (y/n) y
Using username "admin".
Authenticating with public key "imported-openssh-key"
IBM_2145:your_cluster_name:admin>

Single line command

For single line command mode, you can type the following all on one command line:

C:\Program Files\IBM\svcconsole\cimom>
	plink admin@9.43.225.208 svcinfo lssshkeys
 -user all -delim :
Authenticating with public key "imported-openssh-key"
id:userid:key identifier
1:admin:smith
2:admin:jones

Note: If you are submitting a CLI command with all parameters in single line command mode, you are challenged upon first appearance of the SSH server host fingerprint. Ensure that the SSH server host fingerprint is accepted before you submit a batch script file.

The following is an example of the host fingerprint challenge when using plink in single line command mode:

C:\Program Files\IBM\svcconsole\cimom>
	plink admin@9.43.225.208 svcinfo lssshkeys
 -user all -delim :
The server's host key is not cached in the registry. You
have no guarantee that the server is the computer you
think it is.
The server's key fingerprint is:
ssh-rsa 1024 e4:c9:51:50:61:63:e9:cd:73:2a:60:6b:f0:be:25:bf
If you trust this host, enter "y" to add the key to
PuTTY's cache and carry on connecting.
If you want to carry on connecting just once, without
adding the key to the cache, enter "n".
If you do not trust this host, press Return to abandon the
connection.
Store key in cache? (y/n) y
Authenticating with public key "imported-openssh-key"
/bin/ls: /proc/20282/exe: Permission denied
dircolors: `/etc/DIR_COLORS': Permission denied
id:userid:key identifier
1:admin:smith
2:admin:jones