C#
C#
SSH Tunnel Authenticate with a SecureString Password and Private Key
See more SSH Tunnel Examples
Demonstrates the Chilkat SshTunnel.AuthenticateSecPwPk method, which authenticates using SecureString login and password objects together with a private key. The third argument is the SshKey private key.
Note: The private-key path is relative to the application's current working directory. Absolute paths may also be used. Supply the path to your own key file.
Background: This is the
SecureString form of two-factor tunnel authentication: the password is held encrypted in memory and combined with a private key for servers that require both. It is the most protective option when a deployment mandates two-factor SSH and you also want to minimize plaintext credential exposure in a long-running process.Chilkat C# Downloads
bool success = false;
// Demonstrates the SshTunnel.AuthenticateSecPwPk method, which authenticates using SecureString
// login and password objects together with a private key. The 1st argument is the username, the
// 2nd is the password, and the 3rd is an SshKey private key.
Chilkat.SshTunnel tunnel = new Chilkat.SshTunnel();
// The tunnel forwards accepted local connections to this destination through the SSH server.
tunnel.DestHostname = "db.internal.example.com";
tunnel.DestPort = 5432;
// Connect to the SSH server. This performs the TCP/proxy connection and SSH handshake, but
// does not authenticate yet.
int sshPort = 22;
success = tunnel.Connect("ssh.example.com",sshPort);
if (success == false) {
Debug.WriteLine(tunnel.LastErrorText);
return;
}
// Normally you would not hard-code the password in source. You should instead obtain it
// from an interactive prompt, environment variable, or a secrets vault.
string password = "mySshPassword";
// Load the SSH private key. LoadText reads the file's text, which is then imported.
Chilkat.SshKey privKey = new Chilkat.SshKey();
string keyText = privKey.LoadText("qa_data/id_rsa");
if (privKey.LastMethodSuccess == false) {
Debug.WriteLine(privKey.LastErrorText);
return;
}
success = privKey.FromOpenSshPrivateKey(keyText);
if (success == false) {
Debug.WriteLine(privKey.LastErrorText);
return;
}
// Place the login and password into SecureString objects.
Chilkat.SecureString secureLogin = new Chilkat.SecureString();
secureLogin.Append("mySshLogin");
Chilkat.SecureString securePassword = new Chilkat.SecureString();
securePassword.Append(password);
success = tunnel.AuthenticateSecPwPk(secureLogin,securePassword,privKey);
if (success == false) {
Debug.WriteLine(tunnel.LastErrorText);
return;
}
Debug.WriteLine("Authenticated.");
// After authenticating, call BeginAccepting to start listening for local connections to forward.
bool waitForThreadExit = true;
success = tunnel.CloseTunnel(waitForThreadExit);
if (success == false) {
Debug.WriteLine(tunnel.LastErrorText);
return;
}