Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Administration Unleashed

Connecting from the Client 363Remembering the PassphraseInstead of entering the passphrase each time you connect to a remote system, the sshagentutility from the openssh-clients package can be used to remember the passphrase.Additionally, if a graphical desktop is used and the openssh-askpass package is installed,the desktop can be configured to prompt the user for the passphrase after the user logs into the graphical interface. While that graphical login session is active, the passphrase willbe remembered for all terminals opened within that graphical session. To configure sshagentas a startup program, use the following steps:1. Verify that the openssh-askpass package is installed. If it isn’t, install it via Red HatNetwork.2. From the System menu on the top panel of the desktop, select Preferences, MorePreferences, Sessions.3. When the Sessions window appears, select the Startup Programs tab.4. Click Add and enter /usr/bin/ssh-add as the startup command. Click OK. Thewindow will look similar to Figure 17.3.5. Click Close to save the settings and exit.17FIGURE 17.3Adding ssh-add to the Startup ProgramsThe next time the user logs in to the graphical desktop, a dialog window will appearprompting the user for the passphrase. If the correct passphrase is entered, the user willnot have to type the passphrase again when connecting to systems that contain the corresponding$HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys file.If a graphical interface is not being used, the passphrase can be remembered by executingthe following commands:exec /usr/bin/ssh-agent $SHELLssh-add