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Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

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Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#31

Post by jbstack »

samstave wrote: post #14
fellerts wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~/.ssh/config is perfectly fine for that.

Nope. I've used linux since the 1990s. Was friends with the founders of LinuxCare, met Torvalds. blah blah blah... Since semi-retire from ops... and basically using windows for a few years without need to manage a linux box, youd be FN surprised how quickly basic knowledge evaporate at my age when not in use. I had to fn lookup how to add my keys to a box again. (After a 3-month long panel-interview with Google's Net…

If the issue is forgetting basic commands / configuration options then how does swapping one tool for another help? You'll just forget how to use the second tool instead.

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#32

Post by simonmysun »

I would rather require a tool to manage host keys. I really wish to write them along with the host configs in my `~/.ssh/config` instead of `known_hosts`. Additionally I think other host keys e.g. from GitHub should be delivered in a better way. For example, on Archlinux I would prefer getting them from package manager instead of being prompt during connection. Unfortunately host keys can only be written in `known_hosts` and `known_hosts` does not support importing or other method to seperate into different files.

EDIT: I was wrong. See comments.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#33

Post by saghm »

heyarey wrote: post #13
pratio wrote: post #3

So, congratulations on releasing your project but I'm not sure what problem are you trying to solve. Please add some use-cases to make it clear where exactly does it come in, because once I add a key in my ssh config, I'm pretty much there. For more complicated tasks I use ansible.

Thanks! - No need to remember server IPs - Viking gives you an overview with simple machine ls and key ls commands - A more modern and intuitive API - Works consistently across all platforms - Close to the Docker API Sure, it’s only the first release. It may not seem like much now, but with feedback, the project will move closer to the goal.

> No need to remember server IPs

If I put my server's IP in my ~/.ssh/config, I don't need to remember it, and the autogenerated `~/.ssh/known_hosts` file will ensure that the IP doesn't change after my first time connecting. Is there some functionality beyond this in terms of remembering server IPs?

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#34

Post by GTP »

jbstack wrote: post #31
samstave wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. I've used linux since the 1990s. Was friends with the founders of LinuxCare, met Torvalds. blah blah blah... Since semi-retire from ops... and basically using windows for a few years without need to manage a linux box, youd be FN surprised how quickly basic knowledge evaporate at my age when not in use. I had to fn lookup how to add my keys to a box again. (After a 3-month long panel-interview with Google's Net…

If the issue is forgetting basic commands / configuration options then how does swapping one tool for another help? You'll just forget how to use the second tool instead.

The second tool could be more user friendly, thus easier to remember how to use it. Compare how this tool makes you generate a key vs the syntax of ssh-keygen.

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#35

Post by JadoJodo »

I see that you're getting hammered in this thread, so I want to say a few things:

1. Great job on shipping! Whether or not the people in this thread find this tool useful, I want to congratulate you on putting together something you're ready to share with the world.

2. I'd love to hear the story of what prompted you to create this tool. Was it an issue you had? Did you set out to make something easier?

3. Not everything has to be useful to everybody. It's OK if this is something you find useful and no one else does.

Cheers

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#36

Post by imtringued »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #24

That's a sensitive area for someone unknown to be touching. You have no information about who you are or what you've done and you expect me to trust you with ssh keys and remotes? The go.sum is concerning as well because now I need to trust all of those. https://github.com/d3witt/viking/blob/main/go.sum

Agreed. The project could have been implemented as a simple to inspect bash script and yet it has enough dependencies to fill up my screen.

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#37

Post by berkes »

hartator wrote: post #25

What's the point of having different ssh key per server? You are .pub is meant to be shared; even publicly. It's fine to have one ssh key for everything. It's also hard to think about a scenario where one ssh key in your machine is compromised, but not the others.

> What's the point of having different ssh key per server?

I do have some use-cases where I use different ssh-keys per server/cluster:

- Setting up client's machines allow me to nuke the keypair when work is done and I no longer have access. Customers trust me to do this - they trusted me to set up their machines already.

- Belonging to different projects: so that when the project is finished, handed over or closed down, I can safely delete all keys associated with that, knowing for sure I'm not deleting keys that I did need after all.

- Having different levels - testing these levels. I set up servers in a way that there's sysadmins who have root/sudo, and `deploy` users that can only deploy apps (e.g. capistrano, ansible, k8s and so on) and maybe `sudo systemctl restart my-app` and/or read certain /var/log/some-log. I want to be sure that something does/does not work because of the correct keys, and not because one of the 12+ keys in my ssh-agent happens to be used instead.

So, in my case, I do have a lot of ssh-keys that I juggle with.

I wish there were just a version of ssh-agent/ssh-add though, with better UX. Looks like maybe viking is that?

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#38

Post by usrbinbash »

Question: What is the specific advantage I get from using

    $ viking machine add --name deathstar --key starkey 168.112.216.50
    $ viking exec --tty deathstar /bin/bash
Over putting the following in my ~/.ssh/config

    Host deathstar
        HostName 168.112.216.50
        User my_user
        IdentityFile ~/.ssh/starkey
And then just typing

    $ ssh deathstar

?

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#39

Post by yodelshady »

samstave wrote: post #14
fellerts wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~/.ssh/config is perfectly fine for that.

Nope. I've used linux since the 1990s. Was friends with the founders of LinuxCare, met Torvalds. blah blah blah... Since semi-retire from ops... and basically using windows for a few years without need to manage a linux box, youd be FN surprised how quickly basic knowledge evaporate at my age when not in use. I had to fn lookup how to add my keys to a box again. (After a 3-month long panel-interview with Google's Net…

Worth a chuckle from me too. I could and do type that all day, muscle memory. Verbalize it? Not a chance. There's a % in there somewhere.

There does seem to be a subset of questions that are really just "have you repeatedly used this tool in the last few months?". If you have, you'll probably be fast.

Re: Show HN: I built a simple, open-source tool to manage servers and SSH keys

#40

Post by holsta »

heyarey wrote: post #13
pratio wrote: post #3

So, congratulations on releasing your project but I'm not sure what problem are you trying to solve. Please add some use-cases to make it clear where exactly does it come in, because once I add a key in my ssh config, I'm pretty much there. For more complicated tasks I use ansible.

Thanks! - No need to remember server IPs - Viking gives you an overview with simple machine ls and key ls commands - A more modern and intuitive API - Works consistently across all platforms - Close to the Docker API Sure, it’s only the first release. It may not seem like much now, but with feedback, the project will move closer to the goal.

It seems there are many aspects of the OpenSSH suite you are unfamiliar with.

I would personally prefer using well-known tools over installing someone's latest project to handle something as sensitive as my SSH credentials.

Installing code instead of editing my .ssh/config seems like a gigantic risk.

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