Setting up ssh and rsh connection using the pwdutil.pl utility


Setting up ssh and rsh connection using the pwdutil.pl utility
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The password utility, pwdutil.pl, is bundled under the scripts directory. The users can run the utility in their script to set up the ssh and rsh connection automatically.

# ./pwdutil.pl -h
Usage:

Command syntax with simple format:

    pwdutil.pl check|configure|unconfigure ssh|rsh <hostname|IP addr> 
				[<user>] [<password>] [<port>]

Command syntax with advanced format:

    pwdutil.pl [--action|-a 'check|configure|unconfigure']
               [--type|-t 'ssh|rsh']
               [--user|-u  '<user>']
               [--password|-p '<password>']
               [--port|-P '<port>']
               [--hostfile|-f '<hostfile>']
               [--keyfile|-k '<keyfile>']
               [-debug|-d]
               <host_URI>

    pwdutil.pl -h | -?

Table: Options with pwdutil.pl utility

Option	Usage
--action\|-a 'check\|configure\|unconfigure'	Specifies action type, default is 'check'.
--type\|-t 'ssh\|rsh'	Specifies connection type, default is 'ssh'.
--user\|-u '<user>'	Specifies user id, default is the local user id.
--password\|-p '<password>'	Specifies user password, default is the user id.
--port\|-P '<port>'	Specifies port number for ssh connection, default is 22
--keyfile\|-k '<keyfile>'	Specifies the private key file.
--hostfile\|-f '<hostfile>'	Specifies the file which list the hosts.
-debug	Prints debug information.
-h\|-?	Prints help messages.
<host_URI>	Can be in the following formats: <hostname> <user>:<password>@<hostname> <user>:<password>@<hostname>: <port>

You can check, configure, and unconfigure ssh or rsh using the pwdutil.plutility. For example:

To check ssh connection for only one host:
```
pwdutil.pl check ssh hostname
```

To configure ssh for only one host:

pwdutil.pl configure ssh hostname user password

To unconfigure rsh for only one host:
```
pwdutil.pl unconfigure rsh hostname
```

To configure ssh for multiple hosts with same user ID and password:

pwdutil.pl -a configure -t ssh -u user -p password hostname1 
hostname2 hostname3

To configure ssh or rsh for different hosts with different user ID and password:

pwdutil.pl -a configure -t ssh user1:password1@hostname1
user2:password2@hostname2

To check or configure ssh or rsh for multiple hosts with one configuration file:
```
pwdutil.pl -a configure -t ssh --hostfile /tmp/sshrsh_hostfile
```

To keep the host configuration file secret, you can use the 3rd party utility to encrypt and decrypt the host file with password.

For example:

### run openssl to encrypt the host file in base64 format
# openssl aes-256-cbc -a -salt -in /hostfile -out /hostfile.enc
enter aes-256-cbc encryption password: <password>
Verifying - enter aes-256-cbc encryption password: <password>

### remove the original plain text file
# rm /hostfile

### run openssl to decrypt the encrypted host file
# pwdutil.pl -a configure -t ssh 'openssl aes-256-cbc -d -a 
-in /hostfile.enc'
enter aes-256-cbc decryption password: <password>

To use the ssh authentication keys which are not under the default $HOME/.ssh directory, you can use --keyfile option to specify the ssh keys. For example:

### create a directory to host the key pairs:
# mkdir /keystore

### generate private and public key pair under the directory:
# ssh-keygen -t rsa -f /keystore/id_rsa

### setup ssh connection with the new generated key pair under 
the directory:
# pwdutil.pl -a configure -t ssh --keyfile /keystore/id_rsa 
user:password@hostname

You can see the contents of the configuration file by using the following command:

# cat /tmp/sshrsh_hostfile
user1:password1@hostname1
user2:password2@hostname2
user3:password3@hostname3
user4:password4@hostname4

# all default: check ssh connection with local user
hostname5
The following exit values are returned:

0     Successful completion.
1     Command syntax error.
2     Ssh or rsh binaries do not exist.
3     Ssh or rsh service is down on the remote machine.
4     Ssh or rsh command execution is denied due to password is required.
5     Invalid password is provided.
255   Other unknown error.

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