sshkeygen

The sshkeygen program is used to generate SSH public/private keys. The key pairs can be created in KVGroup or PuTTY format, and can be either saved to a file or sent to stdout.

Requirements

To enable logging for this program, you must add a system environment variable, IDM_SUITE_INSTANCE, to define the instance to log; for example: IDM_SUITE_INSTANCE = default. See your operating system documentation to learn how to do this. The program will be logged in:

Bravura Security\Bravura Security Fabric\Logs\<instance name>\idmsuite.log

Usage

sshkeygen [options]

The arguments are described in the following table:

Argument	Description
-b <bits>	The length of the key in bits. If omitted, the default values will be used: 2048 for rsa, dsa and sshv1 256 for ed25519
-c <comment>	The comment used in the private and public key files.
-f <file name>	The name of the key file. If omitted, the stream is written to stdout.
-t <type>	The key type. The acceptable values are rsa, dsa, ed25519, and sshv1. Default type is rsa.
-r <format>	The key format: putty or kvg. Default format is kvg.

Keys generated by sshkeygen in Connector Pack 4.1.x are compatible with Connector Pack 4.2 and above, while the reverse is not compatible.

Warning

Refrain from using SSHv1 keys for systems that support newer protocols. SSHv1 does not meet current security standards; use only for legacy systems that support nothing else.

Conditions

A passphrase must be specified when creating keys.
The minimum of 256 bits is required for rsa and dsa key types. sshkeygen will not generate a key otherwise.
The acceptable key length for ed25519 is 256 bits. Any other key length will be ignored.
A file name must be provided if the key type is sshv1 and key format is putty.
Key files will not be created if there is already a file with the same name.

KVGroup format for the key pair

The KVGroup format for the user’s key pair is as follows:

# KVGROUP-V1.0
"" "" = {
    "Comment" = " "
    "Encrypted" = " "
    "KeyFingerprint" = " "
    "KeyType" = " "
    "PrivateKey" = " "
    "PrivateMAC" = " "
    "PublicKey" = " "
}

The KVGroup format for the user’s key pair for SSHv1 is as follows:

# KVGROUP-V1.0
"" "" = {
    "A1-RSA-Signature" = "SSH PRIVATE KEY FILE FORMAT 1.1\n"
    "Comment" = " "
    "KeyFingerprint" = " "
    "RSA-SSH1-Key" = " "
    "authorized_keys" = " "
}

Examples

To use sshkeygen to create a KVGroup format key and write to stdout, type:

sshkeygen.exe -r kvg

The output looks like:

# KVGROUP-V1.0 
"" "" = { 
  "Comment" = "Public/Private Key Generated by sshkeygen at 2021-01-12 15:44:42 (UTC-07:00)" 
  "Encrypted" = "yes" 
  "KeyFingerprint" = "ssh-rsa 2048 45:2e:38:a4:99:50:ad:10:61:8a:33:da:df:c4:32:e0" 
  "KeyType" = "ssh-rsa" 
  "PrivateKey" = "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" 
  "PrivateMAC" = "bd5693d9b9c59064a35a3f70ecf397f5b346e50c" 
  "PublicKey" = "AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABJQAAAQEAy+2xdnaBaHjxqwSUOo+gtIaX3ztLLoB4lYzs+YrcMP5uP3thjGBTOry3JXL4sV2PCL3Gl5pXH6m5t2YyKywGnTHy0SsPs+XqA+JTREYgWihHBILrb16DmdOUo0G3+pQRcnKgxf0xLzKyM/Yv+Rtq3lt/qo0OxBCIJP2Kpl76lggGe+J8JNhbW530DgFw/soqBUNHJ52sdVscvYQNky+tptTrE5xN/bw/OB9gN2uzKMOjWkcZQ6i3yfbpTwjsT4h1b3WhHvHDeYI0y/rc+CyCPqx076u8d0mPKWudJuXyTBkXktQYrO2A0foo/q30idrCNjxniF7iHpimd/EwO0qHgQ==" 
}

To use sshkeygen to create a PuTTY format key and write to stdout, type:

sshkeygen.exe -r putty