How do I start an SSH session from the Unity desktop with arguments (-i)?

Question

Using SSH in a GNOME terminal is fine. But I want to use it in a Unity window (the location text field, ctrl+l).

I need to refer to my .PEM x509 certificate for security reasons to connect to my Amazon aws EC2 server instance, by using the -i argument that I use in the terminal command.

In the terminal it looks like something like this: sudo ssh -i mykp.pem ubuntu@ec2-something..etc.compute-x.amazonaws.com

GUI window: ssh://ubuntu@ec2-something..etc.compute-x.amazonaws.com.....???

Thanks in advance for any help!

Answer 1

There is no magic ssh:// pseudo-protocol as you suggest, which will open an SSH session. (although Nautilus does support ssh://user@host as a shortcut for SFTP). You can useAlt+F2 to get the graphical "Run" command box, but IIRC even that won't automatically bring up a terminal for ssh, etc.

Your best option might be to create a launcher (.desktop) with the full ssh command-line (as is), and set the "Terminal" property to "true". Call it "SSH-EC2" or something and you should then be able to start it directly from the HUD/Dash (gnome-terminal will automatically open and close when your SSH session ends)

Answer 2

You can set a host-specific rule in you ssh-config file. Open (or create if doesn't exist) the file $HOME/.ssh/config and add the following lines to it:

Host ec2-something..etc.compute-x.amazonaws.com
    User ubuntu
    IdentityFile /path/to/mykp.pem

Now you should be able to use make a connection to the server using the ssh:// URL.

You may find more details about it on man ssh_config.

Answer 3

I just wrote quick post explaining ssh config file in bit more details.