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About This Document
Prerequisites
Configuring SecureCRT
Connecting Securely
Working with Files on Athena
Logging Out

About This Document

This document provides getting started instructions for using SecureCRT in the MIT environment. It is a companion to SecureCRT at MIT, which provides an overview of SecureCRT, system requirements, known issues, and information about how SecureCRT is supported at MIT.

This document is not meant to be a general purpose guide to using SecureCRT's many features. SecureCRT provides detailed online Help for this purpose.

This document assumes that you have already downloaded and installed the MIT-customized version of SecureCRT (available via MIT Software Distribution).

Note: The sample screen images in this document include red "privacy bars" () to prevent viewing of sensitive information.

Prerequisites

Apart from a few system requirements, there are no special prerequisites for using SecureCRT at MIT. However, you must connect to a server that supports the SSH2 protocol in order to make a secure connection. Most servers on MITnet support SSH2. If you are unsure whether a server supports SSH2, contact the server administrator before you connect.

Since SecureCRT uses SSH2 for secure connectivity, Kerberos is not required to use SecureCRT. For information about Kerberized telnet, see HostExplorer at MIT.

Configuring SecureCRT

The MIT download of SecureCRT has been pre-configured with a session profile for you to connect to your Athena home directory. If you installed SecureCRT you do not need to configure SecureCRT to log on to athena.dialup.mit.edu.

Connecting Securely

This section provides step-by-step instructions to help you establish a secure connection to athena.dialup.mit.edu using SecureCRT.

To establish a secure connection to Athena using SecureCRT, do the following:

1. Start SecureCRT. Click Start > All Programs > MIT SecureCRT > SecureCRT.
   Result: SecureCRT opens and a Connect window appears with Athena highlighted under the Sessions folder. Notice that there is a terminal window labeled "not connected - SecureCRT " underneath the smaller Connect window.
   
   
2. Select Athena if not already selected. Click Connect.
   Result: The first time you attempt to log on to the Athena server, you will be prompted with the New Host Key dialog. (athena.dialup.mit.edu is an alias, so the warning is okay).
   
   
3. The Server's host key fingerprint (MD5 hash) for athena.dialup.mit.edu should be d4:2d:2d:bf:2d:b6:e1:85:f2:cc:59:ee:f0:29:61:1f. If this checks out, Click Accept and Save.
   Result: You are prompted to enter your SSH username.
   
   
4. Enter your SSH username in the Username field. This is the same as your Athena username. Optionally, you may also click the 'Save username' checkbox to have SecureCRT remember your username for subsequent logons.
   Result: The Username field contains the Username you entered and the Save username box has been checked (if desired).
   
   
5. Click OK.
   Result: You are prompted to enter your SSH password.
   
   
6. Enter your SSH password in the Password field. This is the same as your Athena password.
   Result: As you type your password, a star (*) is entered for each letter in your password, protecting it from being seen by anyone nearby. IS&T recommends that you not check Save password.
   
   
7. Click OK.
   Result:You are now logged on to Athena. Notice that SecureCRT displays the Athena command prompt in the terminal window.
   
   

Working with Files on Athena

For help working with files on Athena, see Working on Athena - Working with Files.

Logging Out

When you finish an Athena session, be sure to log off. To do this:

1. Choose File > Disconnect.
2. When prompted with the message "Do you wish to disconnect from Athena?" click Yes.

To exit out of SecureCRT, which will also prompt you to log you off (if connected), choose File > Exit.