SSH Server Feature

PrimeHub provides a feature of SSH Server that users are allowed to access into their own launched Notebook via SSH. A practical use-case is that users are able to use IDEs such as VSCode which has remote-ssh extension for the development remotely. In other words, it provides other possible development options for users who like to use rich-features IDEs instead.

Enable SSH Server

To activate SSH Server, administrators have to configure SSH Server of PrimeHub. Please contact administrators and see Configure SSH Server.

Before using this feature, you are required to have a public/private key pair, please go to SSH key generation to generate your own pair at local.

1. Before starting a notebook, expand Show advanced settings and check Enable SSH Server.

   
2. Hovering the cursor over the code block, copy the configuration by clicking the copy icon.

3. Press Start Notebook to launch the JupyterHub.

4. Go back to your local, edit the ~/.ssh/config with adding the copied configuration at your local. Make sure jupyter-<username> and ~/.ssh/id_rsa(private key) are correct according to your circumstance.

If you want to assign other private key, please change the path ~/.ssh/id_rsa in the configuration to the desired one. If your key requires passphrase, you may want to add into ssh-agent.

Deploy Public key into JupyterHub

After Notebook is launched,

In Notebook page, it shows the same instruction for the reference

1. Drag-n-drop a public key (e.g. id_rsa.pub) from your local to the File Browser of the opened JupyterHub tab on browser.

   
2. Open Terminal on Notebook, run the commands

   mkdir -p ~/.ssh
   mv ~/id_rsa.pub ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

3. Go back to your local, run the command for verification.

   ssh jupyter

   After SSH into the Notebook successfully, you should see the prompt:

   jovyan@jupyter-<your_username>:~$

Once the initial setup is completed, only step 1 is required for accessing Notebook via SSH.

Practical Usecase - VSCode

If you are familiar with VSCode, check our guide, VSCode + Remote-SSH.

Troubleshooting

If permission denied or connection refused occurs, please check our advices for troubleshooting.