Teleport is software which provides an SSH Jump Host (or Bastion host) service in a secure, modern , way, with support for role-based access control , and single sign-on. It is a replacement for the ecAccess SSH service, and is operated by the CD Apps team and User Services.
Warning |
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This service is under development. Please continue to use the existing ECAccess service! |
Overview
The Teleport used to access a number of services at ECMWF, including our Atos HPCF and ECS services. The service provides:
- Single SSH hop from client systems anywhere on the internet to servers inside ECMWF (ecGate, HPC, etc)
- Web single sign-on using ECMWF's website and the HID token
- Eight hour sessions allowing multiple connections between re-authenticationRe-authentication required only every 12 hours (usually once per working day)
- Integration with standard tools such as the OpenSSH ssh client, scp, and ssh-agent
- X11 and Port forwarding
The single sign-on step is performed using an application called "tsh
", every eight hours.After . After that you use standard ssh or scp to connect to systems inside ECMWF.
Downloading tsh
The tsh
application is required to perform user authentication once every eight hours.
tsh
is open source, very portable, and has minimal dependencies.
The binary is available for Linux 32-bit, 64-bit, and ARM, as well as Windows 64-bit and a signed package for MacOS.
MacOS users can also use homebrew for installation (brew install teleport
).
User Authentication
Once every eight hours, you will need to refresh your tokens by logging in to the ECMWF website.
Tip |
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SSH connections can remain active for longer than eight hours, but new ones will require re-authentication. |
First Time
Run tsh
, giving the location of our gateway:
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language | bash |
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theme | Midnight |
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tsh login --proxy=shell.ecmwf.int:443 |
Your default web browser will open and you should login with your email address, workstation password, and then HID Token code.
Tip |
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If you're already logged in to the ECMWF website, or have recently logged in to this service, the password prompt might be skipped. |
Subsequent Occasions
Code Block |
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language | bash |
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theme | Midnight |
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tsh login |
Connecting to hosts through the gateway
Tip |
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Windows users should skip to our Guide for Windows SSH to ECMWF. |
OpenSSH 7.3 or later has a simple command line option to connect via our gateway (shell.ecmwf.int
) to the destination-host
:
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ssh -J username@shell.ecmwf.int username@destination-host |
For example, if your username is ab0
and you wish to connect to ecgate
:
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language | bash |
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theme | Midnight |
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ssh -J ab0@shell.ecmwf.int ab0@ecgate |
The OpenSSH configuration setting for this is named ProxyJump
:
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Host ecgate
User ab0
ProxyJump ab0@shell.ecmwf.int |
See the Legacy Configuration note below if your ssh client is older than 7.3.
If your connection fails after working for some time, it could be because your tokens have expired. You can check them:
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$ tsh status
> Profile URL: https://shell.ecmwf.int:443
Logged in as: firstname.lastname@ecmwf.int
Cluster: shell.ecmwf.int
Roles: *
Logins: ab0
Valid until: 2020-06-22 23:26:30 +0100 BST [EXPIRED]
Extensions: permit-agent-forwarding, permit-port-forwarding, permit-pty |
Destination Hosts available
The hosts available through the Teleport gateway are:
- Linux VDI (both legacy OpenSUSE and CENTOS 8 beta)
- Physical office workstations
- ecGate
- HPC2020 TEMS
Configuring passwordless login
With the initial configuration you may be prompted for a password at the destination-host
.
For login without a password, add the Teleport certificate authority to your ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
file:
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language | bash |
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theme | Midnight |
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curl -fs https://nexus.ecmwf.int/repository/internal-teleport-configs/prod/teleport_user_ca.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys |
Tip |
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This configuration will allow access to any host which mounts the same $HOME directory. |
Other Notes
SSH Agent is required
If you have logged in but ssh fails to connect, it may be that your SSH agent is not running.
The Agent can be started and tokens refreshed this way:
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eval $(ssh-agent -s)
tsh logout
tsh login |
And this will make sure the Agent continues to run in your environment:
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echo 'eval $(ssh-agent -s)' >> ~/.bash_profile |
SCP, X11, Agent, and Port Forwarding
scp, agent, and port forwarding will work through the Teleport gateway.
Note |
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X11 forwarding will work in a couple of months when we have an update from the vendor. |
Legacy Configuration
For OpenSSH clients older than 7.3, the following configuration can be used:
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# ~/.ssh/config file:
Host ecgate
User ab0
ProxyCommand /usr/bin/ssh -q -W %h:%p ab0@shell.ecmwf.int
|
Difficult client environments
You might not be able to download and run tsh
, or access our web login service, from where you wish to use ssh.
Instead you can use (or copy) the identity file which tsh
stores in $HOME
:
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# ~/.ssh/config file:
Host ecgate
User ab0
IdentityFile ~/.tsh/keys/shell.ecmwf.int/firstname.lastname@ecmwf.int
ProxyCommand /usr/bin/ssh -q -i ~/.tsh/keys/shell.ecmwf.int/firstname.lastname@ecmwf.int -W %h:%p ab0@shell.ecmwf.int |
This is a good way to access Teleport credentials via a shared file system from any host.
Windows Clients
There are various ways to initiate SSH from Windows 10, so it depends on your system (perhaps it is ECMWF or your own), and your preferences.
We recommend using the Windows Subsystem for Linux if you can (on your own machine), followed by starting the SSH Agent and then connecting as for Linux/MacOS systems.
Alternatively, to make native connections from Windows:
Here are the instructions on how to set it up depending on your platform:
Info |
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title | System Administrators |
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If you are a system administrator setting up access to teleport from your organisation, have a look at the Teleport SSH Access - Network requirements for additional information on how this system works and its network requirements. |
Warning |
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Please be aware that you must use a version of "tsh" equal to or lower than 13. We are working on removing this limitation in the very near future |
Panel |
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title | Native SSH from Windows 10 |
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- Start the Windows SSH Agent Service
- Download tsh (you may need to instruct antivirus software to ignore the file)
- Login using tsh (you will always need to specify the --proxy setting)
- Use an SSH config as below:
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# Windows currently has a bug, you need the full path to ssh or you will get:
# posix_spawn: No such file or directory
Host *.ecmwf.int
ProxyCommand C:\Windows\System32\OpenSSH\ssh.exe ab0@shell.ecmwf.int -W %h:%p
# this assumes the SSH Agent is running, otherwise add:
# Host shell.ecmwf.int
# IdentityFile ~/.tsh/keys/shell.ecmwf.int/firstname.lastname@ecmwf.int
# IdentitiesOnly yes |
Tip |
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The Windows 10 Terminal is a decent tabbed command line interface (albeit with no X support). New sessions can be configured following this example:
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{
"guid": "{717406b0-06cb-454c-a0c4-875267fa373d}", # run "[guid]::NewGuid()" in a PowerShell to generate this
"name": "ecGate",
"commandline": "ssh ab0@ecgate.ecmwf.int"
"suppressApplicationTitle": true,
"hidden": false,
"fontSize": 10,
"fontFace": "Fira Code",
"cursorShape": "filledBox",
"cursorColor": "#073642",
"colorScheme": "Solarized Dark",
}, |
Panel |
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title | MobaXterm SSH from Windows 10 |
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- Install MobaXterm if it is not already on your system
- Download tsh (you may need to instruct antivirus software to ignore the file)
- Start MobaXterm
- Login using tsh (you will always need to specify the --proxy setting)
- Use an SSH config as below:
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Host shell.ecmwf.int
IdentityFile ~/.tsh/keys/shell.ecmwf.int/firstname.lastname@ecmwf.int
IdentitiesOnly yes
Host ecgate
User ab0
ProxyCommand ssh -q -W %h:%p ab0@shell.ecmwf.int