.External Connections v2.1.4.7

SSH Key Access

If you've been instructed to use a SSH Key to connect, you should have your private key available, and it must be in PuTTY format (has a .ppk file extension). See below for additional instruction. Once you're prepared, import your Key into the profile:

1. Click the Client Key Manager link as indicated in the illustration.

2. Click the [Import] button.

3. Provide your Key's passphrase if prompted.
4. On the import dialog, you can choose to make the key Global - it will be available for any profile you create - or Profile only.
5. Finish the import, and a row is added to your Client Key Manager. Close that form.
6. Select the imported Key ID from the list.
7. If you provide your Key's passphrase in the space provided, it may not be saved with the profile (for security reasons), meaning you will need to provide it each time you want to connect so Bitvise can unlock your Key.

Client-to-Server Forwarding

In order for Bitvise to forward your database traffic through SSH to the server, it needs to know what network port to listen to, and what port the server side is listening to.

1. On the C2S Tab of the profile, click [Add] to set up a traffic relay.

2. Enter 127.0.0.1 as the Listen Interface, localhost as the Destination Host, and the port appropriate to your database platform as the Dest. Port

   • For Hosted Customers, MySQL is configured to use 3306 - if your organization is running PCR-360 internally with MySQL, your network administrator can provide this info.

   • For Instance Customers running Oracle, the typical port is 1521 or 1526. Confirm with your network administrator what port to enter here.

3. The List. Port setting is a little bit special. For most cases, it's safe to use the same value here as the Dest. Port. Make note of the value you set here - you'll need it further down.

Save your profile.

Click the [Login] button to test your connection. If all is correct, you should see log activity without errors, and the [Login] button switches to [Logout]. That's it. The connection sits quietly and does its job. There are other functions you can perform with Bitvise, like opening a command prompt on the server you're connected to, but that's not covered here.

SSH Key Conversion (if needed)

PuTTY SSH Toolkit Download and run the PuTTY installer. If you've been instructed to use a SSH Key to access the server, you may need this to convert the key to PPK format for Bitvise (below).

If you obtained your key from your own network administrator, please confirm the key's format. To convert from OpenSSH or ssh.com format, follow these steps:

1. After installing the PuTTY Toolkit noted above, open PuTTYgen from your Start Menu
2. Open the Conversions Menu, and click Import keyfile.
3. If your key is protected with a passphrase, you'll be prompted to enter that to unlock the key.

4. PuTTYgen will load the key's signature. Click Save Private Key to save a PuTTY-formatted copy as a .ppk file. If there was a passphrase, it will be retained on the new Key file.