Skip to content

SSH Keys#

SSH public/private key pairs are a powerful tool that allows clients to securely access and transfer utilizing Axway. The key pairs are like a a digital key and lock. When you use an SSH key to connect to Axway and push a file (or Axway uses an SSH key to connect and pull a file), a private key is utilized to unlock the door (so to speak) and send a secure message to the server, which then verifies your identity using the public key (lock). This process ensures that only the person with the private key can connect and the files are protected from unauthorized access. In practice, SSH public/private key pairs are just two different, but related, text files containing what appear to be random characters to a human. Oftentimes (but not always) private keys have no file extension whereas public keys have the .pub extension.

SSH Keys are an alternative to passwords and JST's preferred authorization mechanism

Typical Usage - Client Initiated Transfers#

Logging into your own team's Axway account using SSH keys instead of a password:

  • You or your vendor use a tool to generate an SSH key pair (see below)
  • You or your vendor now have 2 files on your server that ARE the SSH keys, one file is the private key and one is the public key
  • You send the public key to JST to be installed into your team’s Axway account
  • JST puts the public key file into your Axway account in the correct place
  • You or your vendor logs in to Axway using the SFTP protocol and instead of doing so with a password, you use the SFTP command option to specify a private key file instead.
  • You are able to login successfully because the private key you used to login was correctly paired with the public key on the Axway server

Setup - Client Initiated Transfers#

If you or your vendor are connecting to Axway via SCP/FTP (Client Initiated Transfer), we prefer that you generate a private/public key pair and provide JST with the public key. Public keys can be sent to JST over email or via TDX. Either you can generate the key pair or your vendor should be familiar with the process if they are the ones connecting. Never send private keys through TDX or other unsecure methods Essentially, this process is like going to the hardware store and buying a lock and giving us the lock to secure your account while you keep the keys.

Setup - Axway Initiated Transfers#

If Axway is connecting to you or your vendor via SCP/FTP (Server Initiated Transfer), the preferred method is for JST to generate an SSH key and provide the public key (lock) to you/your vendor to install on the server that Axway is connecting to. Please let us know the preferred format and key length. Our default is SHA256withRSA - 2048 key size.

Generating SSH Key Pairs#

The following commands can be run on most mac/linux/windows servers with the appropriate installed software. On Windows, you will open the Command Prompt program, while on Mac you will utilize Terminal.

Bash Session
# Generate ED25519 Type Key
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

# Generate RSA 4096 Key
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

This command will generate two files. The terminal should tell you where the files have been saved. If you are connecting to Axway, you will provide the file that ends with .pub to JST.