A quick tutorial that makes your remote server work as a local one.

Before you start

Configure SSH Key to log in remote server

  1. launch a terminal in the local machine, excute the following command:

    ssh-keygen

    input Enter for all the following steps and then you will find two files generated in ~/.ssh folder:

    id_rsa
id_rsa.pub

    excute the following command:

    ssh-copy-id [username]@[host]
# if you log in to your lab server via Liverpool gateway, 
# the host should be the host_gateway: ssh1.csc.liv.ac.uk

    input passwords and then you should log in to the remote server successfully.

  2. now let us have a sanity test:

    # 1/2: Log in to the gateway
ssh [username]@[host_gateway]
# 2/2: Log in to your lab server
ssh [host_lab]

### Here is my configuration for your reference ###
# 1/2
ssh [email protected]
# 2/2
ssh rahul2

    if in both steps you are not asked for a password (since we have configured the SSH keys), then you can safely move on to the next step. Otherwise, check carefully and repeat the previous steps.

  3. configure a shortcut to log in to the remote server

    cd ~/.ssh
touch config

    open config with an editor and write the following configurations:

    Host [customized_name_1]
    HostName [host_gateway] 
    User [username]

Host [customized_name_2]
    HostName host_lab
    User [username]
    ProxyCommand ssh [username]@[host_gateway] nc %h %p

### Here is my configuration for your reference ###
Host liv
    HostName ssh1.csc.liv.ac.uk
    User ramdrop
Host rahul2
    HostName rahul2
    User ramdrop
    ProxyCommand ssh [email protected] nc %h %p

    now you shou be able to log in to the remote server with the shourcuts above:

    ssh [customized_name_1]
# or
ssh [customized_name_2]

### Here is my commands for your reference ###
# log in to the gateway
ssh liv
# or log in to the lab server directly
ssh rahul2

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