Automating SSH Connection between Two Windows 10 Systems using Open-SSH on Ubuntu in VirtualBox

Automating SSH Connection between Two Windows 10 Systems using Open-SSH and Ubuntu VirtualBox

This article will guide you through the process of automating SSH connections between two Windows 10 systems, one of which is installed as a virtual machine using Oracle VirtualBox. By the end of this article, you will be able to establish an SSH connection between the two systems without the need for manual intervention.

Prerequisites

• Two Windows 10 systems
• Oracle VirtualBox installed on one of the systems
• Ubuntu installed as a virtual machine on the system with VirtualBox

Installing Open-SSH on Ubuntu

Open-SSH is a suite of security-related network-level utilities based on the Secure Shell (SSH) protocol. It is used to secure network communications and enable remote command execution. To install Open-SSH on Ubuntu, follow these steps:

1. Open a terminal window in Ubuntu
2. Update the package list by running the following command: sudo apt-get update
3. Install Open-SSH by running the following command: sudo apt-get install openssh-server
4. Check the status of the Open-SSH server by running the following command: sudo systemctl status ssh

Configuring SSH on Ubuntu

After installing Open-SSH, you need to configure it to allow remote connections. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the SSH configuration file by running the following command: sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
2. Find the line that starts with #PermitRootLogin and change it to PermitRootLogin yes
3. Find the line that starts with #PasswordAuthentication and change it to PasswordAuthentication yes
4. Save the changes and exit the editor
5. Restart the SSH service by running the following command: sudo systemctl restart ssh

Configuring Windows 10 for SSH

To enable SSH on Windows 10, you need to install the OpenSSH client. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the Windows Settings app
2. Go to Apps > Apps & features > Optional features
3. Click on Add a feature
4. Find and select OpenSSH Client
5. Click on Install

Automating SSH Connections

To automate SSH connections between the two Windows 10 systems, you can use a utility called plink.exe, which is part of the PuTTY suite. plink.exe can be used to establish an SSH connection and run commands remotely.

First, you need to generate a pair of SSH keys on the Windows 10 system that will be used to connect to the Ubuntu virtual machine. To do this, run the following command:

This will generate two files: id_rsa (private key) and id_rsa.pub (public key).

Next, copy the public key to the Ubuntu virtual machine. To do this, run the following command:

Replace [user] with the username on the Ubuntu virtual machine and [ubuntu\_ip] with the IP address of the Ubuntu virtual machine.

Finally, create a batch file on the Windows 10 system that will be used to establish the SSH connection. The batch file should contain the following command:

Replace [user] with the username on the Ubuntu virtual machine, [ubuntu\_ip] with the IP address of the Ubuntu virtual machine, and command with the command that you want to run on the Ubuntu virtual machine.

• Installed Open-SSH on Ubuntu and configured it to allow remote connections
• Installed the OpenSSH client on Windows 10
• Generated a pair of SSH keys on Windows 10 and copied the public key to Ubuntu
• Created a batch file on Windows 10 to establish an SSH connection and run commands on Ubuntu

References

• Ubuntu OpenSSH Server Setup
• Install and Use the OpenSSH Client on Windows
• plink - Execute a command on a remote server