Seamlessly accessing SoftNAS from a customer's shell using TMATE


Symptoms

Allowing SoftNAS engineers to access a SoftNAS node locally via ssh 

Purpose

This KB will help ensure a smooth support experience by utilizing the TMATE utility to access customer environments in addition to RC for a faster resolution

Resolution

To implement this solution please follow through the instructions below


  1. First we need to to create ssh keys with the following command:

    • # ssh-keygen :- It is recommended to protect your key-pair with a passphrase, however, you can leave everything else to defaults. Please see the figure 1 below

      Figure 2 

  2. Next, we need to download the TMATE tool to our SoftNAS Appliance by running the commands below:

  3. Now we are ready to establish a ssh session to share our CLI by running the command below

    • # cd ~ && ./tmate-2.2.1-static-linux-amd64/tmate

  4. Next, copy the ssh-session link to share with the designated engineer that needs access. This information can be found on figure 2. As you only have a couple of seconds before the message goes away you can refer to step #5 for the command to retrieve it if you couldn't copy the information on time or you want to share the CLI via http as well
    Figure 2




  5. To access more sharing options (ssh,https) you can run the command below
    • # cd ~ && ./tmate-2.2.1-static-linux-amd64/tmate show-messages




  6. To quite the tmate session run the command below
    • # Press the Ctrl + d key


Update History


11-17-2015 Template Created 
 04-05-2019 KB created