SSH overview

The Secure Shell (SSH) is a set of protocols for implementing secure sessions over a non-secure network (such as a standard TCP/IP network). SSH was designed as a replacement for Telnet. The RFT Extension for Terminal Based Applications supports SSH connections to VT sessions.

In order to use SSH, you must set up SSH server software on the host. Security features include the following:

 

SSH Connection to a VT Session through Functional Test Extension

 

Basic connection properties for SSH

Basic Connection Properties for VT include the following information:

Connection Configuration

       Specify the name of the Connection Configuration (.conn) file you want to use to connect to the host.

Host

      Type the name or IP address of the host machine.

Terminal type

       Select the type of terminal emulator connection to use: TN3270, TN3270E, TN5250, VT Default, VT420-7, VT420-8, or VT UTF8. Select a VT session type for an SSH connection.

Port

       SSH uses the port 22.

Code page

       Specify the code page that corresponds to the language you are using.

Screen size

       Specify the number of horizontal and vertical characters that can be displayed. The default is 24x80.

 

Advanced Connection Settings window

By clicking the “Advanced” button in the  IBM Extension for Terminal Based Applications window , you can bring up Advanced Connection Settings window.

In this window, you can configure all connection properties, including Basic Connection Properties and Advanced Connection Properties.

For an SSH connection, you need to set up the following options :

SecurityProtocol - Specifies whether to use the TLS v1.0 protocol, the SSL protocol or the SSH protocol for providing security. The value can be one of the following:

Constant

Value

Description

SESSION_PROTOCOL_TLS

"TLS"

Use TLS v1.0 protocol (default)

SESSION_PROTOCOL_SSL

"SSL only"

Use SSL v3.0 protocol to provide security

SESSION_PROTOCOL_SSH

"SSH"

Use SSH protocol v2.0

Specify “SSH” for an SSH connection.

 

userID  -  Specifies the user ID used in the SSH authentication process either with public-key or password. Valid values are valid userids.

userPassword - Specifies the user password used in the SSH authentication process. Valid values are valid user passwords.

 

useSSHPublicKeyAuthentication -  Specifies whether the SSH public key authentication is enabled. Valid values are true to set the SSH public key authentication to enabled and false to set it to disabled. The default value is false.

 

SSHPublicKeyAlias - Alias for the public-private key pair to be used in this session. A keyword alias is a descriptive string used to identify the key. The default alias is mykey.

 

SSHPublicKeyAliasPassword - The password required to read the public key information from the keystore.

 

keyStoreFilePath - The path and name of the keystore file on the client workstation containing the client's public and private keys. The default is no path or name.

 

keyStorePassword - The password required to open the keystore file on the client workstation. The default is no password. Valid value is the correct password to open the keystore file.

 

A Sample Connection File

Here is a sample connection file for SSH connection.  SecurityProtocol, userID and userPassword are required options. The port number should be 22. If you set useSSHPublicKeyAuthentication to false, then you don’t need to set SSHPublicKeyAlias, SSHPublicKeyAliasPassword, keyStoreFilePath and keyStorePassword.

#Extension for Terminal-based Applications Connection Properties File  #Thu Feb 23 11:20:39 PST 2006

SecurityProtocol=SESSION_PROTOCOL_SSH

userID=<your VT Id>

userPassword=<your VT session password>

useSSHPublicKeyAuthentication=true

SSHPublicKeyAlias=<you alias>

SSHPublicKeyAliasPassword=<your password>

keyStoreFilePath=<your keyfilelocation>

keyStorePassword=<your password>

port=22

altScreenSize=

host=<VT address>

codePageKey=KEY_DEC_MULT

screenSize=2

TNEnhanced=false

sessionType=3

codePage=1100

LUName=

VTTerminalType=3

workstationID=

 

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