VaultOne: Configure Passwordless Direct Access to Linux Devices Using PuTTY

VaultOne's Direct Access feature allows you to connect to machines outside of your web browser using methods like RDP and SSH.

This article shows you how to configure PuTTY and VaultOne to connect to Linux devices without requiring password authentication each time. Direct Access uses SSH keys to securely connect to the machine.

Considerations:

• For security reasons, you must re-enter your credentials at least once every 7 days.

Generating the Key Pair

First, use the PuTTYgen application to generate the key pair and save it in VaultOne.

To generate the key pair in PuTTYgen:

1. Open the PuTTYgen application.
2. Click Generate to create a new key. This key will be used by the platform to verify your authentication.
3. Once the key is generated, copy the full text from the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file field.

To save the SSH key in VaultOne:

1. Log in to your VaultOne platform.
2. In the upper-right corner, click your username > My settings.
3. Go to the SSH Access tab.
4. Paste the public key you copied from PuTTYgen into the provided field.
5. Click Save.

To save the private key in PuTTYgen:

1. Return to PuTTYgen.
2. Click Save private key to save the public key in the PuTTY-specific format (.ppk file). Choose a secure location to save this file.
3. Close PuTTYgen.

Configuring and Connecting with PuTTY

After saving the key pair in PuTTYgen and VaultOne, use PuTTY to connect to the Linux machine.

1. Open the PuTTY application.
2. In VaultOne, got to the Servers tab.
3. Select the Linux machine you want to connect and click Direct Access. VaultOne will display the required SSH command.
4. Under Connection Information, copy only the connection string of the SSH command.
   • Note: Don't copy the ssh command or the port information (for example -p 2222).
5. Return to PuTTY. In the Host Name field, enter your VaultOne username followed by a # then paste the SSH code you copied from VaultOne.
   • For example: j.smith#[email protected]
6. In the Port field, enter the port number (for example 2222).
7. In the PuTTY navigation menu, go to Connection > SSH > Auth.
8. Under Private key file for authentication, click Browse and select the private key file you saved in from PuTTYgen.
9. Click Open to initiate the connection.