Public Key Properties Dialog

The Public Key Properties dialog is accessed by selecting the Connection/SSH2 category on the Session Options dialog, selecting Public Key as one of the Authentication methods, and clicking on the associated Properties button. This dialog is not available when the session is connected.

The following options control SSH2 public-key locations and generation.

See Set Up Public-Key Authentication for details on setting up public-key authentication on both the local machine and the SSH2 server

Use global public key setting

Selecting this option instructs SecureFX to use the global identity file
Identity files are two files containing the public-private key pair used to connect to an SSH server using RSA or DSA authentication. The Identity.pub file contains only the public key and is uploaded to the SSH server. The corresponding Identity file contains both public and private keys. Though "identity" is usually the name given to identity files other file names can be used. as your method of authentication for this session
A session is a set of options that are assigned to a connection to a remote machine in SecureFX. These settings and options are saved under a session name and allow the user to have different preferences for different hosts. .

Use session public key setting

Selecting this option instructs SecureFX to use the session-specific identity file as your method of authentication for this session.

Global/Session settings group

Depending on your choice of public key settings above, this group contains options for using either your global or session-specific identity file.

Use identity or certificate file

Selecting this option instructs SecureFX to use the specified identity or PKCS #12 file
A PKCS #12 file is a file that contains your X.509 certificate and its associated private key. as your method of authentication. To use an existing file, enter the full path to the file or click on the browse button to open a file browser to locate the file. For more information on configuring your system to use identity files, see Set Up Public-Key Authentication.

To use an Amazon EC2 "key pair" with SecureFX, specify the private key file of the key pair generated by Amazon as the identity or certificate file. This file typically has a .pem extension.

Use a certificate from a PKCS #11 provider DLL

Selecting this option instructs SecureCRT to use X.509 certificates from a PKCS #11 provider DLL as your method of authentication. You will need to specify the path to the PKCS #11 provider DLL. SecureCRT will try all certificates by default. Click on the browse button in order to select a specific certificate to be used for authentications.

Get username from certificate

Check this option to use the Common Name or Principle Name from the certificate as the username when authenticating.

Fingerprint

This entry box will be filled in automatically when an identity file is entered above.

Create Identity File

Press this button to start the Key Generation wizard and create identity files which contain your public/private key pair.

Note: SecureFX supports RSA, Ed25519, EDSA, and DSA key types.

Upload

Press this button to open the Upload Public Key dialog and upload the specified identity file to the server configured for this session.

Public keys are uploaded using the "public-key assistant". Uploads are only available on servers that support the public-key assistant (such as VanDyke Software's VShell® server 2.1 or newer).

Change Passphrase

Press this button to change the passphrase
A password used to protect a private key from unauthorized use. It is recommended that a passphrase be assigned to all private keys to prevent unauthorized use, especially in environments where multiple individuals have access to the machine on which the private key files are stored. for your identity file.