Installation Manual

132 Adding and Configuring iDRAC6 Users
Public Key Authentication over SSH
iDRAC6 supports the Public Key Authentication (PKA) over SSH. This
authentication method improves SSH scripting automation by removing the
need to embed or prompt for a user ID/password.
Before You Begin
You can configure up to 4 public keys per user that can be used over an SSH
interface. Before adding or deleting public keys, ensure that you use the view
command to see what keys are already set up, so a key is not accidentally
overwritten or deleted. When the PKA over SSH is set up and used correctly,
you do not have to enter the username or password when logging into the
iDRAC6. This can be very useful for setting up automated scripts to perform
various functions.
When getting ready to set up this functionality, be aware of the following:
• You can manage this feature with RACADM and also from the GUI.
• When adding new public keys, ensure that the existing keys are not already
at the index where the new key is added. iDRAC6 does not perform checks
to ensure previous keys are deleted before a new one is added. As soon as a
new key is added, it is automatically in effect as long as the SSH interface
is enabled.
Generating Public Keys for Windows
Before adding an account, a public key is required from the system that will
access the iDRAC6 over SSH. There are two common ways to generate the
public/private key pair: using PuTTY Key Generator application for clients
running Windows or ssh-keygen CLI for clients running Linux. The ssh
-keygen
CLI utility comes by default on all standard installations.
This section describes simple instructions to generate a public/private key pair
for both applications. For additional or advanced usage of these tools, see the
application Help.