========================================
As the administrator of an SSH server, you can take advantage of the
-monkeysphere in two ways: you can publish the host key of your machine
-so that your users can have it automatically verified, and you can set
-up your machine to automatically identify connecting users by their
-presence in the OpenPGP web of trust.
+monkeysphere in two ways:
+1. you can publish the host key of your machine to the Web of Trust
+(WoT) so that your users can have it automatically verified, and
+
+2. you can set up your machine to automatically identify connecting
+users by their presence in the OpenPGP Web of Trust.
+
+These things are not mutually required, and it is in fact possible to
+do one without the other. However, it is highly recommend that you at
+least do the first. Even if you decide that you do not want to use
+the monkeysphere to authenticate users to your system, you should at
+least the host key into the Web of Trust so that your users can be
+sure they're connecting to the correct machine.
+
+
+Monkeysphere for host verification (monkeysphere-host)
+======================================================
Server host key publication
---------------------------
-To generate and publish a server host key:
- # monkeysphere-server gen-key
- # monkeysphere-server publish-key
+To begin, you must first import an ssh host key. This assumes that
+you have the ssh server installed, and that you have generated a host
+RSA key. Once that has been done, import the key:
+
+ # monkeysphere-host /etc/ssh/ssh\_host\_rsa\_key
This will generate the key for server with the service URI
-(`ssh://server.example.net`). The server admin should now sign the
-server key so that people in the admin's web of trust can identify the
-server without manual host key checking:
+(`ssh://server.example.net`). You can output the new key information
+with the 'show-key' command:
- $ gpg --search '=ssh://server.example.net'
- $ gpg --sign-key '=ssh://server.example.net'
+ # monkeysphere-host show-key
+
+Once the key has been imported, it needs to be publish to the Web of
+Trust:
+ # monkeysphere-host publish-key
-Update OpenSSH configuration files
-----------------------------------
+The server admin should now sign the server key so that people in the
+admin's web of trust can identify the server without manual host key
+checking. On your (the admin's) local machine retrieve the host key:
-To use the newly-generated host key for ssh connections, put the
-following line in `/etc/ssh/sshd_config` (be sure to remove references
-to any other keys):
+ $ gpg --search '=ssh://server.example.net'
- HostKey /var/lib/monkeysphere/ssh_host_rsa_key
+Now sign the server key:
-FIXME: should we just suggest symlinks in the filesystem here instead?
+ $ gpg --sign-key '=ssh://server.example.net'
-FIXME: What about DSA host keys? The SSH RFC seems to require implementations support DSA, though OpenSSH will work without a DSA host key.
+Make sure you compare the fingerprint of the retrieved with the one
+output with the 'show-key' command above, to verify you are signing
+the correct key. Finally, publish your signatures back to the
+keyservers:
-To enable users to use the monkeysphere to authenticate using the
-OpenPGP web of trust, add this line to `/etc/ssh/sshd_config` (again,
-making sure that no other AuthorizedKeysFile directive exists):
+ $ gpg --send-key '=ssh://server.example.net'
- AuthorizedKeysFile /var/lib/monkeysphere/authorized_keys/%u
+See http://web.monkeysphere.info/signing-host-keys/ for more info
+signing host keys.
-And then read the section below about how to ensure these files are
-maintained. You'll need to restart `sshd` to have your changes take
-effect. As with any change to `sshd_config`, be sure to retain an
-existing session to the machine while you test your changes so you
-don't get locked out.
+Monkeysphere for user authentication (monkeysphere-authentication)
+==================================================================
+A host can maintain ssh `authorized_keys` files automatically for its
+users with the Monkeysphere. These `authorized_keys` files can then
+be used to enable users to use the monkeysphere to authenticate to
+your machine using the OpenPGP web of trust.
Monkeysphere authorized_keys maintenance
----------------------------------------
-A host can maintain ssh authorized_keys files automatically for its
-users with the Monkeysphere.
-
For each user account on the server, the userids of people authorized
to log into that account would be placed in:
signature on the connecting user's key would validate the relevant
user ID. The individuals trusted to identify users like this are
known in the Monkeysphere as "Identity Certifiers". In a simple
-scenario, the host's administrator would be trusted identity certifer.
-If the admin's OpenPGP keyid is `$GPGID`, then on the server run:
+scenario, the host's administrator would be a trusted identity
+certifer. If the admin's OpenPGP keyid is `$GPGID`, then on the
+server run:
- # monkeysphere-server add-identity-certifier $GPGID
+ # monkeysphere-authentication add-identity-certifier $GPGID
-To update the monkeysphere authorized_keys file for user "bob" using
+To update the monkeysphere `authorized_keys` file for user "bob" using
the current set of identity certifiers, run:
- # monkeysphere-server update-users bob
+ # monkeysphere-authentication update-users bob
-To update the monkeysphere authorized_keys file for all users on the
+To update the monkeysphere `authorized_keys` file for all users on the
the system, run the same command with no arguments:
- # monkeysphere-server update-users
+ # monkeysphere-authentication update-users
You probably want to set up a regularly scheduled job (e.g. with cron)
to take care of this automatically.
-FIXME: document other likely problems and troubleshooting techniques
+Update OpenSSH server AuthorizedKeysFile configuration
+------------------------------------------------------
+
+SSH must be configured to point to the monkeysphere generated
+`authorized_keys` file. Add this line to `/etc/ssh/sshd_config`
+(again, making sure that no other AuthorizedKeysFile directive is left
+uncommented):
+
+ AuthorizedKeysFile /var/lib/monkeysphere/authorized_keys/%u
+
+You'll need to restart `sshd` to have your changes take effect. As
+with any change to `sshd_config`, be sure to retain an existing
+session to the machine while you test your changes so you don't get
+locked out.