ssh-agent(1)

NAME

     ssh-agent - authentication agent

SYNOPSIS

     ssh-agent [-c | -s ]  [-k] [ command [args...]]

DESCRIPTION

     ssh-agent is a program to hold private keys used for  public
     key authentication (RSA, DSA). ssh-agent is often started at
     the beginning of a login session. All other windows or  pro-
     grams  are  started  as  clients  to  the ssh-agent program.
     Through use of  environment  variables,  the  agent  can  be
     located  and automatically used for authentication when log-
     ging in to other machines using ssh(1). (See System Adminis-
     tration Guide: Security Services.)

     If a command line is given, this is executed as a subprocess
     of the agent. When the command dies, so does the agent.

     The agent initially does not have any private keys. Keys are
     added  using  ssh-add(1),  which  sends  the identity to the
     agent. Several identities can be stored in  the  agent;  the
     agent can automatically use any of these identities. Use the
     -l option in ssh-add(1) to display the identities  currently
     held by the agent.

     The agent is run in the user's  local  host.  Authentication
     data  need not be stored on any other machine, and authenti-
     cation passphrases never go over the  network.  However,  if
     the  connection  to  the  agent is forwarded over SSH remote
     logins, the user can use the privileges given by the identi-
     ties anywhere in the network in a secure way.

     There are two main ways to get an agent  setup.  Either  you
     let  the  agent  start  a  new  subcommand  into  which some
     environment variables are exported, or  you  let  the  agent
     print the needed shell commands (either sh(1) or csh(1) syn-
     tax can be generated) which can be evalled  in  the  calling
     shell.  Later, use ssh(1) to look at these variables and use
     them to establish a connection to the agent.

     A    unix-domain    socket     is     created     (/tmp/ssh-
     XXXXXXXX/agent.pid) and the name of this socket is stored in
     the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment variable. The socket  is  made
     accessible  only  to the current user. This method is easily
     abused by root or another instance of the same user.

     The SSH_AGENT_PID environment  variable  holds  the  agent's
     PID.

     The agent exits automatically when the command given on  the
     command line terminates.

OPTIONS

     The following options are supported:

     -c    Generates C-shell commands  on  stdout.  This  is  the
           default  if  SHELL indicates that it is a csh style of
           shell.

     -k    Kills the current agent (given  by  the  SSH_AGENT_PID
           environment variable)

     -s    Generates Bourne shell commands on stdout. This is the
           default  if  SHELL  does not indicate that it is a csh
           style of shell.

EXIT STATUS

     The following exit values are returned:

     0     Successful completion.

     1     An error occurred.

FILES

     /tmp/ssh-XXXXXXXX/agent.pid
           Unix-domain sockets used to contain the connection  to
           the authentication agent. These sockets should only be
           readable by the owner. The sockets  are  removed  when
           the agent exits.

ATTRIBUTES

     See attributes(5) for descriptions of the  following  attri-
     butes:

     ____________________________________________________________
    |       ATTRIBUTE TYPE        |       ATTRIBUTE VALUE       |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|
    | Availability                | SUNWsshu                    |
    |_____________________________|_____________________________|

SEE ALSO

     ssh(1), ssh-add(1), ssh-keygen(1), sshd(1M), attributes(5)

     System Administration Guide: Security Services

     To  view  license  terms,  attribution,  and  copyright  for
     OpenSSH,         the         default         path         is
     /var/sadm/pkg/SUNWsshdr/install/copyright.  If  the  Solaris
     operating environment has been installed anywhere other than
     the default, modify the given path to access the file at the
     installed location.

AUTHORS

     OpenSSH is a derivative of the original and free ssh  1.2.12
     release  by  Tatu  Ylonen.  Aaron Campbell, Bob Beck, Markus
     Friedl, Niels Provos, Theo de Raadt  and  Dug  Song  removed
     many bugs, added newer features and created Open SSH. Markus
     Friedl contributed the support for SSH protocol versions 1.4
     and 2.0.