I want to use an SSH tunnel through AWS Systems Manager to access my private VPC resources. How can I do this?
Short description
You can use this key whenever you use OpenSSH to perform SSH actions using ssh utitlities that support OpenSSH, for example when using Linux in a command shell. Now you need to create the public key to be paired with the private key(s) you just created. Allows a chain of ssh connections to forward key challenges back to the original agent, thus eliminating the need for using a password or public/private keys for these connections. From the ssh(1) man page: Enables forwarding of the authentication agent connection. This can also be specified on a per-host basis in a configuration file. For example we would like to define few configuration parameters as common for all SSH connections from client machine so such arguments can be defined in /etc/ssh/sshconfig file as below: Host. Port 2222 Ciphers aes128-ctr,aes192-ctr,aes256-ctr,aes128-cbc,3des-cbc PasswordAuthentication yes MACs hmac-md5,hmac-sha1,umac-64@openssh.com ConnectTimeout 20.
AWS Systems Manager Session Manager uses the Systems Manager infrastructure to create an SSH-like session with an instance. Session Manager tunnels real SSH connections, allowing you to tunnel to another resource within your virtual private cloud (VPC) directly from your local machine. A managed instance that you create acts as a bastion host, or gateway, to your AWS resources. The benefits of this configuration are:
- Increased Security: This configuration uses only one Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instance (the bastion host), and connects outbound port 443 to Systems Manager infrastructure. This allows you to use Session Manager without any inbound connections. The local resource must allow inbound traffic only from the instance acting as bastion host. Therefore, there is no need to open any inbound rule publicly.
- Ease of use: You can access resources in your private VPC directly from your local machine.
Note: For instructions to access your EC2 instances with a terminal or a single port forwarding using Systems Manager, see Setting up Session Manager.
Prerequisites
Enable SSH connections through Session Manager and make sure that SSH connection requirements are met.
Note: You must have the following installed to use the SSH feature:
1. AWS Systems Manager Agent (SSM Agent) v2.3.672.0 or newer.
2. Session Manager Plugin v1.1.23 or newer on your local machine.
3. AWS CLI v1.16.12 or newer on your local machine.
Resolution
To start the SSH tunnel using Session Manager, follow these steps:
Note: If you receive errors when running AWS CLI commands, make sure that you’re using the most recent version of the AWS CLI.
1. To start the SSH tunnel, run the following command:
2. To test access to the tunnel on the target port created in step 1, run the following command:
In the preceding example, 127.0.0.1 and localport translate to access targethost:destport.
Example Configurations
Ssh Example Windows
Scenario 1
Create a tunnel from your local machine to access a MySQL database running on an EC2 instance using the SSM host as a bastion host.
Resources used
instance1: An EC2 instance acting as a bastion host and managed by AWS Systems Manager.
Hostname = ec2-198-51-100-1.compute-1.amazonaws.com Instance id = i-0123456789abcdefa
instance2: An EC2 instance running MySQL Database on the default port 3306.
Hostname = ec2-198-51-100-2.compute-1.amazonaws.com
Instructions
1. From a local machine (for example, your laptop), run the SSH command to connect to instance1, using Session Manager-based SSH. This command establishes a tunnel to port 3306 on instance2, and presents it in your local machine on port 9090.
Note: How to download icy tower for mac. In the preceding example, port 9090 is available on the local machine.
2. From the local machine, access the database using the available port used in step 1 (in this example, 9090).
Important: Any security groups, network access control list (network ACL), security rules, or third-party security software that exist on instance2 must allow traffic from instance1. In the preceding example, instance2 must allow port 3306 access from instance1.
Scenario 2
Create three tunnels over a single SSH connection from your local machine to:
- Connect to the SSH port in instance1
- Access a MySQL database in RDS instance
- Access a webserver in instance3
Resources used
instance1: An EC2 instance acting as a bastion host and managed by AWS Systems Manager.
Hostname = ec2-198-51-100-1.compute-1.amazonaws.com Instance id = i-0123456789abcdefa
RDS instance: A MySQL RDS instance located in a private subnet.
Hostname = DBinstanceidentifier.abcdefg12345.region.rds.amazonaws.com
instance3: An EC2 instance located in a private subnet
Hostname = ec2-198-51-100-3.compute-3.amazonaws.com
Instructions
1. Start the session with three tunnels using the SSH command.
Note: There are three separate tunnel invocations in the command.
Note: In the preceding example, ports 8080, 9090, and 9091 are available on the local machine.
2. Access SSH from the local machine to instance1. The local port 8080 tunnels to the SSH port (22) on instance1. The key-pair and username are for the instance you are tunneling to (instance1, in this example).
3. Access the database on RDS instance. The local port 9090 tunnels to port 3306 on RDS instance. You can use MySQL workbench, which allows you to access the DB server using the GUI, with 127.0.0.1 as hostname and 9090 as port. Or, run the following command in the shell command prompt:
4. From the local machine, to access the website on instance3, open the browser and navigate to the website.
Important: Any security groups, network ACL, security rules, or third-party security software that exist on RDS instance and instance3 must allow traffic from instance1. In the preceding example, instance3 must allow port 80 access from instance1.
Related information
On Windows, you can create SSH keys in many ways. This document explains how to use two SSH applications, PuTTY and Git Bash.
Joyent recommends RSA keys because the node-manta CLI programs work with RSA keys both locally and with the ssh agent. DSA keys will work only if the private key is on the same system as the CLI, and not password-protected.
PuTTY
PuTTY is an SSH client for Windows. You can use PuTTY to generate SSH keys. PuTTY is a free open-source terminal emulator that functions much like the Terminal application in macOS in a Windows environment. This section shows you how to manually generate and upload an SSH key when working with PuTTY in the Windows environment.
Perl Ssh Example
About PuTTY
PuTTY is an SSH client for Windows that you will use to generate your SSH keys. You can download PuTTY from www.chiark.greenend.org.uk.
When you install the PuTTY client, you also install the PuTTYgen utility. PuTTYgen is what you will use to generate your SSH key for a Windows VM.
This page gives you basic information about using PuTTY and PuTTYgen to log in to your provisioned machine. For more information on PuTTY, see the PuTTY documentation |
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Generating an SSH key
To generate an SSH key with PuTTYgen, follow these steps:
- Open the PuTTYgen program.
- For Type of key to generate, select SSH-2 RSA.
- Click the Generate button.
- Move your mouse in the area below the progress bar. When the progress bar is full, PuTTYgen generates your key pair.
- Type a passphrase in the Key passphrase field. Type the same passphrase in the Confirm passphrase field. You can use a key without a passphrase, but this is not recommended.
- Click the Save private key button to save the private key. You must save the private key. You will need it to connect to your machine.
- Right-click in the text field labeled Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file and choose Select All.
- Right-click again in the same text field and choose Copy.
Importing your SSH key
Now you must import the copied SSH key to the portal.
- After you copy the SSH key to the clipboard, return to your account page.
- Choose to Import Public Key and paste your SSH key into the Public Key field.
- In the Key Name field, provide a name for the key. Note: although providing a key name is optional, it is a best practice for ease of managing multiple SSH keys.
- Add the key. It will now appear in your table of keys under SSH.
PuTTY and OpenSSH use different formats of public SSH keys. If the text you pasted in the SSH Key starts with —— BEGIN SSH2 PUBLIC KEY
, it is in the wrong format. Be sure to follow the instructions carefully. Your key should start with ssh-rsa AAAA…
.
Once you upload your SSH key to the portal, you can connect to your virtual machine from Windows through a PuTTY session.
Git Bash
The Git installation package comes with SSH. Using Git Bash, which is the Git command line tool, you can generate SSH key pairs. Git Bash has an SSH client that enables you to connect to and interact with Triton containers on Windows.
To install Git: Procreate download for mac.
- (Download and initiate the Git installer](https://git-scm.com/download/win).
- When prompted, accept the default components by clicking Next.
- Choose the default text editor. If you have Notepad++ installed, select Notepad++ and click Next.
- Select to Use Git from the Windows Command Prompt and click Next.
- Select to Use OpenSSL library and click Next.
- Select to Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style line endings and click Next.
- Select to Use MinTTY (The default terminal of mYSYS2) and click Next.
- Accept the default extra option configuration by clicking Install.
When the installation completes, you may need to restart Windows.
Launching GitBash
To open Git Bash, we recommend launching the application from the Windows command prompt:
- In Windows, press Start+R to launch the Run dialog.
- Type
C:Program FilesGitbinbash.exe
and press Enter.
Ssh Example With Key
Generating SSH keys
First, create the SSH directory and then generate the SSH key pair.
One assumption is that the Windows profile you are using is set up with administrative privileges. Given this, you will be creating the SSH directory at the root of your profile, for example:
- At the Git Bash command line, change into your root directory and type.
Change into the .ssh directory
C:Usersjoetest.ssh
Laptop junk cleaner.- To create the keys, type:
- When prompted for a password, type apassword to complete the process. When finished, the output looks similar to:
Uploading an SSH key
To upload the public SSH key to your Triton account:
- Open Triton Service portal, select Account to open the Account Summary page.
- From the SSH section, select Import Public Key.
- Enter a Key Name. Although naming a key is optional, labels are a best practice for managing multiple SSH keys.
- Add your public SSH key.
When Triton finishes the adding or uploading process, the public SSH key appears in the list of SSH keys.
What are my next steps?
Rsync Ssh Example
- Adding SSH keys to agent.
- Set up the Triton CLI and CloudAPI on Windows.
- Set up the Triton CLI and CloudAPI.
- Create an instance in the Triton Service Portal.
- Set up the
triton-docker
command line tool. - Visit PuTTYgen to learn more about the PuTTYgen and to seethe complete installation and usage guide.