Section 4.1: Managing SSH Keys

Creating New Keys | Working with Keys | Importing a Private Key

The Key Manager is accessed via the Settings screen. On this screen, you can create and manage the SSH authentication keys for use with TouchTerm Pro.

Note: Public key authentication is a somewhat advanced procedure that not all users will require. If you're unsure about what key-based authentication is, or why you'd want to use it, then we recommended reading one of the many tutorials available on the internet.

Creating New Keys

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Tap "Create New Key" to create a new key:

When creating a new key, specify a descriptive name for your key, and choose the key type and bit length. TouchTerm supports RSA (SSH Protocol 1 and 2) and DSA (SSH Protocol 2) keys. Note that DSA keys must be 1024 bits, and RSA keys can be between 768 and 4096 bits. (Also note that generation of large RSA keys may take a long time -- please be patient!)

You may optionally specify a passphrase for your new key. If you do this, whenever the key is to be used to establish a connection, TouchTerm will first require this passphrase before sending the key to the server. When you associate a key with a Saved Connection, if the Save Passwords option is On, you can also enter its passphrase there (into the "password" field) to be saved, so that when you open that particular connection you aren't prompted for the passphrase for the key.

Use the Connection Details screen to associate the key you've created with a Saved Connection. After the public key is properly installed on the remote system, TouchTerm will use your saved key to authenticate to the remote host.

Note that there is NO way to recover a passphrase that has been associated with a key if you lose or forget it.

Working with Keys

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From the Key Manager screen, you can tap on any of the keys you've created to bring up the key details.

This screen will display information about the type and bit length of the key, as well as provide the ability to E-Mail the public key contents, and export the private key contents to the Clipboard.

Tap "E-mail Public Key" to distribute your public key via email, either to yourself or your system administrator for installation on the server(s) to which you wish to connect.

You may also use "Export Private Key" to copy the contents of the private key to the Clipboard. We do not recommend exporting your private key contents under any circumstances, but we do realize that it may be convenient in some cases. If you do find it necessary to export your private key contents, be sure that you only paste the contents into a session with a trusted server, and immediately set the permissions of your new key file appropriately.

Importing a Private Key

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TouchTerm Pro also provides the ability to import a private authentication key.

NOTE: Sharing of private keys can compromise the security of the keys on all systems which use them, so we do not recommend using this procedure. However, we also understand that importing an existing private key can be the only practical solution in some situations; please ensure that you are using all necessary security precautions when importing an existing key.

TouchTerm Pro uses the Copy and Paste mechanism to allow you to copy the contents of your private key to the Clipboard, and then import the copied text as a new private key.

First, connect to the remote host upon which your private key contents are stored. Then, find your private key file, and display its full contents on the screen (for example, use cat my_id.rsa). Once the key contents are displayed, use a two-finger tap to place the selection markers on the screen, and then drag them so that the entire contents of the private key are selected:

Then, Tap once in the Upper-Left corner to Copy the contents of the private key to the Clipboard:

Now that the private key is on your Clipboard, you can open up Settings and navigate to the Manage SSH Keys section, and then select "Create New Key". You will now see an "Import Key from Clipboard" option at the bottom of the screen:

Enter a name for the private key, and, if necessary, the passphrase required in order to properly load it. (If this key requires a passphrase, then the import will fail if no passphrase is provided, or if an invalid passphrase is provided.) Then, tap "Import Key from Clipboard" to import your private key. TouchTerm will attempt to load your private key and, if successful, will add it to your list of SSH keys.