The most secure way that ForestSafe can communicate with UNIX Servers is by using Secure Shell. At any time ForestSafe will use and manage a single SSH key to communicate with all UNIX Servers, this is known as the ForestSafe Active SSH Key. The SSH Keys page maintains a list of keys, only one of which can be active at any one time. Selecting new active key causes ForestSafe to replace all existing keys on all UNIX servers with the new key automatically.
When the system is first installed, the SSH key list is empty. A Key must be activated before importing UNIX machines.
SSH Keys can be generated by the ForestSafe system, it uses a mouse move to generate random data similar to Putty KeyGen. If required, a copy of puttygen.exe can be found in the installation/redist folder. Public SSH keys of length 1024 or greater are accepted by the system.
Imported Keys are saved to the ForestSafe Cache with a 1024 byte passphrase generated by the system. Stored securely, they cannot be used outside of the system.
Keys can be activated by clicking the make active link to the right of the key. Only one key can be active at a time. Keys can be removed by clicking the delete link to the right of the key. Active keys cannot be removed.
