1 SSH Authentication
- 1.1 Supported Algorithms for SSH
- 1.2 Password Authentication
  - 1.2.1 MacOS
- 1.3 Public-Private Key Authentication
  - 1.3.1 Creating a Public-Private Key Pair
    - 1.3.1.1 SSH keygen command examples
    - 1.3.1.2 ssh-keygen -t rsa
  - 1.3.2 Uploading the Public Key
    - 1.3.2.1 authorized_keys sample
2 Special Note for Oracle Java Cloud Service

Click the button to create a new Endpoint, or select an existing Endpoint by clicking on the desired row. Enter the required fields as defined in the table below.

See Endpoint Defaults to setup default values for new Endpoints to save time.

Field Name	Required	Description

Field Name	Required	Description
Endpoint Name	Yes	The name of the Endpoint.
Description	No	An optional description for the Endpoint.
Active	Yes	Whether or not the endpoint is active in the system. Defaults to "Yes".
Connection Type	Yes	The connection type used for connection to the Endpoint. Supports: localhost Unix - SSH WIndows - SSH Supported on Windows Server 2019+ where native OpenSSH is available. Windows - SSH (Cygwin) See the Cygwin Installation Guide for more information.
Endpoint Address	Yes	The DNS name or IP address of the Endpoint.
Port	Yes	The SSH port of the Endpoint (typically port 22).
Base Directory	Yes	A working directory on the Endpoint used by FlexDeploy. ~ is not supported here. See Permissions information below for details on how to create this folder automatically (Recommended). For example, /app/flexdeploy. If you have two FlexDeploy installations that may connect to same Endpoint, you must use unique folders for both FlexDeploy Servers. In most cases, separate FlexDeploy is installed to perform testing of FlexDeploy patches, which may connect to same Endpoint, in which case you can use different folder like /app/flexdeploytest and /app/flexdeploy. Working directory under /var/tmp or /tmp folder is not recommended as administrators generally have cron jobs to purge files based on age and that will cause issues when plugin files are deleted. For example, Error: Could not find or load main class flexagon.fd.core.plugin.ExternalPluginServer will be encountered when plugin lib files are deleted. It is also recommended that user home folder is not used as base directory either, specifically when using Run As(sudo). Permissionse Base directory must be owned by `User Name` or `Run As(if using sudo)` and it's group. Ideal option is to point base directory where `User Name` or `Run As(if using sudo)` has access to create sub-folder. In such case, FlexDeploy will automatically create folder with necessary permissions. Permissions required are 755. Keep in mind that FlexDeploy may temporarily change permissions specifically when using `Run As` option. When using `Run As`, Base Directory is owned by `Run As` and there is subfolder name `scratch` which is owned by `User Name`. The scratch directory is used to stage files transferred by User Name, and then copied to other directories for use by the `Run As` User. It’s not important to understand this detail, and is only provided since you may notice ownership differences on the scratch directory.
JDK Home	Yes	The JDK Home directory on the Endpoint. For example, /usr. FlexDeploy will look for /bin/java under specified JDK Home folder. Not required if the Endpoint is a Docker Host.
Source Script	No	An optional script executed right before plugins are executed on the endpoint. Script can source some other environment script as well. Script should be Unix shell or Windows bat commands depending on type of Endpoint. If using Windows Cygwin SSH then script should be written as Unix shell. Some usages of this script include sourcing an environment file (. $HOME/mfile.env) or exporting a variable (export FLEXAGON_FD_PLUGIN_JAVA_ARGS="-Xmx1024m -Djava.io.tmpdir=/var/tmp"). Variables exported here will become available to plugin executions on this endpoint.
Transfer Protocol	Yes	Protocol/Tool to use to transfer files from FlexDeploy host to endpoint and vice-versa. Options available are: SCP (default) rsync To use the rsync option, FlexDeploy should be running on a UNIX machine, the endpoint can be UNIX or Windows (Cygwin) and rsync needs to be installed on BOTH, FlexDeploy host and endpoint and expect needs to be installed on the FlexDeploy host.
Authentication Type	Yes	Mechanism to use for authentication. The Password, Private Key File, and Passphrase are displayed based on selected type. Supports: Username and Password Username and SSH Key Username and SSH Key with Passphrase
User Name	Yes	The user account on the Endpoint to connect with. All executions via this endpoint will run as this user.
Password	No	The password for the User Name. Either password or Private Key File is required.
Private Key File	No	Fully-qualified path of the SSH private key file on FlexDeploy server. Either Private Key File or Password is required. ~ is not supported here.
Passphrase	No	An optional passphrase used when the private key was generated. Only valid if a Private Key File is specified.
Run As (sudo)	No	An optional user to run as (using sudo) after establishing connection to the endpoint when working with Unix OS. Add sudoers rule, such that User Name can sudo to Run As user without prompting for a password. something like initialLoginUser ALL=(RunAsUser) NOPASSWD: ALL Test by executing the following from FlexDeploy server terminal, connected as User Name: “sudo -u <run as user> bash -c whoami”. Output should be the name of the Run As user without prompting for a password. After completing endpoint configuration, click “Test Connection” on the Endpoint. If there is a need to adjust sudo commands, then it can be done by setting up a description value like shown below. Please consult with Flexagon support if you have questions on this topic. `sudoPrefix:sudo su - sudoSuffix:bash -c` Note that there is space at the end of each line. Both prefix and suffix should be on it's own line in Description input. In this example, FlexDeploy will run sudo as per this example command: “`sudo su - <run as user> bash -c whoami`”
Group	No	An optional group identifier which can be useful when searching for Endpoints.
Subgroup	No	An optional subgroup identifier which can be useful when searching for Endpoints.

Optionally, click the Test Connection button to validate that the FlexDeploy server can connect to the configured Endpoint.

Click the Save button to save the changes to the Endpoint. Optionally click the Apply button to save the changes, but remain on the current screen until the Cancel button is clicked.

To inactivate an endpoint click the Active link on the desired Endpoint, and it will toggle to Inactive. This will hide that Endpoint after leaving the screen, until the Active checkbox is unchecked. To reactivate an Endpoint, click the Inactive link and it will toggle back to Active. This endpoint is now active in the system again and ready for use.

SSH Authentication

FlexDeploy utilizes SSH to connect to its configured Endpoints. SSH uses public-key cryptography to authenticate the remote computer and allow it to authenticate the user. FlexDeploy supports Creating an SSH Endpoint using Password Authentication or using SSH Keys.

FlexDeploy also supports using sudo user. See Run As (sudo) details above.

Supported Algorithms for SSH

Flexagon focuses its testing with RSA keys for SSH, since their use is more prevalent by our customers. We therefore recommend using RSA.

Password Authentication

The first mechanism is to use automatically generated public-private key pairs to simply encrypt a network connection, and then use password authentication to log on. In this case you must provide a User Name and Password to connect to the endpoint.

Unix Example	Windows Example

Unix Example

Windows Example

MacOS

MacOS endpoints are supported using Unix Connection Type.

Public-Private Key Authentication

The second technique is to use a manually generated public-private key pair to perform the authentication, allowing the FlexDeploy server to connect to endpoints without having to specify a password. In this scenario, a public and private key pair are generated on the FlexDeploy server. The private key is kept secretly on the server by setting the permissions such that only the owner can read it (the userid which the FlexDeploy server is running as). The public key is copied to all endpoint computers which must allow access to the owner (user running FlexDeploy server) of the matching private key. While authentication is based on the private key, the key itself is never transferred through the network during authentication. SSH verifies whether the same person offering the public key also owns the matching private key. In this case you must provide the User Name, the path to the Private Key File on the server, and an optional Passphrase (an optional password assigned to the private key when it was generated).

Creating a Public-Private Key Pair

If you do not already have SSH keys generated for the host where FlexDeploy is installed, login (or switch user) as the user which FlexDeploy runs as, and run the following OpenSSH command.

ssh-keygen -t <rsa | dsa> ** where rsa or dsa is the encryption algorithm you wish to use. For example,

SSH keygen command examples

ssh-keygen -t rsa

OR

ssh-keygen -t dsa

Here is the sample output (with interactive prompts) using rsa encryption.

ssh-keygen -t rsa

Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
e4:dd:6d:88:e0:64:9c:3e:9d:f7:7d:6f:2e:56:dd:6b oracle@devlnx12
The key's randomart image is:

+--[ RSA 2048]----+

|                 |

|       . .       |

|        B        |

|       B + + o   |

|        S = + o o|

|         . . o .+|

|              ..+|

|              oE+|

|             ..+o|

+-----------------+

It is typical to use the default file name and location to store the private key (which is in the .ssh subfolder of the user's home directory). You can optionally secure the private key file with a passphrase. It is an SSH requirement that the private key be readable only by its owner (e.g. oracle in the example above). So you must change the permissions accordingly (e.g. chmod 600 /home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa). You will receive an error at connection time similar to the following if you omit this step.

Permissions 0777 for '/home/oracle/.ssh/id_rsa' are too open.

It is recommended that your private key files are NOT accessible by others otherwise private key will be ignored.

Uploading the Public Key

We must now copy the contents of the public key to each endpoint host. This step can be performed manually or using FlexDeploy UI. To save time and avoid errors, use Upload Public Key button on FlexDeploy UI for specific Endpoint.

In order to copy public key manually copy the contents of the public key file on the FlexDeploy server and append it to the end of the following file on the endpoint:

~/.ssh/authorized_keys (Note that you will need to create this file if it does not already exist). You can scp public key file to endpoint and append it to authorized_keys file in .ssh folder of user's home folder. As explained above in Tip section, you must make sure that permissions are 700 for .ssh folder as well as user's HOME folder.

Sample contents of an authorized_keys file (containing two public keys):

authorized_keys sample

The public key can also be copied to the endpoint's authorized_keys file using the Upload Public Key button.

Validate that the derived name and location of the public key is correct, and enter the password for the Endpoint connection user (if not already provided on the Endpoint definition). Click the Upload button to upload the public key to the Endpoint.

Special Note for Oracle Java Cloud Service

The SSH connectivity for the Java Cloud Service is no different than when running on-premise. However, by default you will not know the password for the oracle user. You have two options for configuring endpoints on Java Cloud Service instances.

Using PuTTy, connect to the Java Cloud Service instance VM using the opc user and the private key you generated when you created that instance. Sudo to root and change the oracle password. You can now use this password to configure the endpoint to connect using the oracle user.
Manually copy the public key into the authorized_keys file within the .ssh folder of the oracle home (/u01/app/oracle/tools/paas/state/homes/oracle/.ssh/authorized_keys). You can also use the upload public key feature of FlexDeploy if you know the oracle password (e.g. by following the instructions in #1 above). Once the keys are in place you can configure the endpoint to reference the private key instead of the password.