Getting started
Go to http://dashboard.rc.nectar.org.au/auth/login/?next=/dash/
Log in using your institutions username and password
You now have two options to deal with the key issue:
Method 1 -- generate online
Once you're in, create a keypair under Manage Compute/Access & Security and give it an easy-to-remember name
This is your private key, so protect it: don't lose it and don't expose it. You can't download it again. You delete it, it's gone.
On your computer
mv ~/Downloads/nectar.pem ~/.ssh
chmod og-rwx ~/.ssh/nectar.pem
cp nectar.pem nectar
ssh-keygen -e -f nectar >nectar.pub
ls nectar* -lah
-rw------- 1 me me 887 Jun 22 11:31 nectar
-rw------- 1 me me 887 Jun 22 11:28 nectar.pem
-rw-r--r-- 1 me me 335 Jun 22 11:31 nectar.pub
To use the key do
ssh -i nectar user@server
Method 2 -- BYOK
You're using linux -- you probably have your own key already.
Go to the Manage Compute/Access & Security, Import Keypair
Paste your ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (or id_dsa.pub) key.
And that's the extent of the setup.
Test run
Go to Manage Compute/Images & Snapshot and select a Real Linux image (i.e. Debian)
 |
| Select image |
 |
| Set up -- don't forget to check SSH to be able to log on. If you want to be able to ping, check icmp as well. |
 |
| Loading |
 |
| Running |
ping -c 3 115.146.92.154
PING 115.146.92.154 (115.146.92.154) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 115.146.92.154: icmp_req=1 ttl=54 time=1.70 ms 64 bytes from 115.146.92.154: icmp_req=2 ttl=54 time=1.66 ms 64 bytes from 115.146.92.154: icmp_req=3 ttl=54 time=1.73 ms --- 115.146.92.154 ping statistics --- 3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2002ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.660/1.698/1.733/0.029 ms
To be able to log in via ssh you need to know what username to use -- it's (probably) image specific.
To find out, click on the image name (here: testing4)
 |
| Click me |
 |
| Select 'log' |
 |
| Look for the username -- here it's debian |
ssh -v -i ~/.ssh/tmp/nectar debian@115.146.92.154 The authenticity of host '115.146.92.154 (115.146.92.154)' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is 81:a8:a7:0f:a9:68:a0:08:f1:60:45:e3:57:2e:4c:4c. Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes Warning: Permanently added '115.146.92.154' (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
Once you're in you'll be greeted by:
Linux unnamed-virtual-machine 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Thu Mar 22 17:26:33 UTC 2012 x86_64 The programs included with the Debian GNU/Linux system are free software; the exact distribution terms for each program are described in the individual files in /usr/share/doc/*/copyright. Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by applicable law. debian@i-00001637:~$
debian@i-00001637:~$ df -h Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on /dev/vda1 9.9G 768M 8.6G 9% / tmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /lib/init/rw udev 2.0G 112K 2.0G 1% /dev tmpfs 2.0G 0 2.0G 0% /dev/shm debian@i-00001637:~$ uname -a Linux i-00001637 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Thu Mar 22 17:26:33 UTC 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux debian@i-00001637:~$ groups debian cdrom floppy audio dip video plugdev debian@i-00001637:~$ cat /etc/group|grep debian cdrom:x:24:debian floppy:x:25:debian audio:x:29:debian dip:x:30:debian video:x:44:debian plugdev:x:46:debian debian:x:1000:
When you're done, don't forget to log out and terminate your image. If you leave it running it will count towards your resource allocations.
 |
| Terminating |
Notes:
1. you'll run into trouble with the key fingerprints eventually as the IP addresses and key fingerprints won't be matching. Either you'll be doing a lot of editing of you ~/.ssh/known_hosts file or you have to relax your security setttings.
2. Yes, you can log in as root as well. The default user does not have sudo powers.
3. It takes about 60 seconds after the launch of the image before the openssh server is up and accepting connections. Think more desktop speeds than laptop+SSD speeds.
4. For actual production stuff you can crank up the image requirements:
 |
| 16 cores and 65 GB? Why, thank you! |
 |
| Snapshot saves |
Troubleshooting ssh:
If you're having problems logging in using your key, use the ssh -v switch as shown above and parse the output
Unsuccessful:
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password debug1: Next authentication method: publickey debug1: Offering RSA public key: /home/me/.ssh/id_rsa debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey,password debug1: Trying private key: /home/me/.ssh/id_dsa debug1: Trying private key: /home/me/.ssh/id_ecdsa debug1: Next authentication method: password
A successful authentication should contain
debug1: Offering RSA public key: /home/me/.ssh/id_rsa debug1: Server accepts key: pkalg ssh-rsa blen 279 debug1: read PEM private key done: type RSA debug1: Authentication succeeded (publickey).
