SSH authentication change for all users on Monday June 21
- Posted by Benjamin Nacar
- on June 11, 2021
On June 21st, a week from this Monday, we will be changing the authentication system on our ssh gateway for all users. Instead of entering your University password, you will have to set up an ssh keypair to log in (if you don't have one in place already).
Refer to https://cs.brown.edu/about/system/connecting/ssh/ for OS-specific instructions on generating a new keypair. Once you have a keypair, you can upload your public key at https://cs.brown.edu/account/sshkeys. The gateway will recognize your public key after a few minutes.
Under the new system, you will only have to enter your University password (and do Duo 2-factor auth) if you are logging in through ssh for the first time, or if you have changed your password since the last time you logged in.
We have an auxiliary ssh gateway, pk-ssh.cs.brown.edu, that is already configured this way. We encourage you to use this gateway ahead of the changeover to make sure that your keypair auth is working properly.
The main ssh gateway, ssh.cs.brown.edu, will be unavailable between 7am and 8am on June 21st as we make this change. The auxiliary gateway pk-ssh.cs.brown.edu will remain available during this interval for use by all. (We plan to retire pk-ssh.cs.brown.edu soon afterwards.)