SSH Agent

do not use unencrypted ssh private keys! The basic security scan will automatically delete them.

But typing in the password for the key is annoying.

Desktop Environments

If you login to central ACC Systems using xwin32 or other full X Sessions an ssh-agent is automatically started.

You can unlock and add your private key using ssh-add. For example

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Local Agent

On all modern linux environments the graphical desktop will spawn an ssh-agent. You can add your local key using ssh-add and then forward it for all connections to the ACC Systems.

For example with a ssh config ~/.ssh/config

Host *.acc.gsi.de
        ForwardAgent yes

Or specify on every connect ssh -A user@host

For windows you need to run a ssh agent for example for example puttys pagent. To use allow forwarding the key to the remote system set Allow Agent Forwarding in putty -> Connection -> SSH -> Auth.

-- ChristophHandel - 20 Feb 2019