Connecting with the Charon Manager

Owned by W.Erber
Last updated: Feb 05, 2021
1 min read

Contents


General Information

To use the management GUI for Charon-SSP and the emulated SPARC systems, you must connect to the Charon-SSP cloud instance with the Charon-SSP Manager. The Charon-SSP Manager is the main interface to all important functions of the Charon-SSP software. Managing Charon-SSP via the command-line is possible but outside the scope of this document (please refer to the user's guide of the conventional product for more information).

Notes:

  • Typically, Charon-SSP Manager is installed either on the Charon host itself (if this system has a graphical interface) on a management system on customer premises. This is the use-case described in this section. Other configurations are possible. For example, the Charon Manager could be installed on a non-graphical Charon host in the cloud or in a VMware environment and be displayed on a remote system using X11-Forwarding via an SSH connection. 
  • For accessing a Charon host instance in a cloud across the Internet using its public IP address:
    • The security configuration on your Charon host instance must at least allow SSH access. This allows the built-in SSH tunneling of the Charon-SSP Manger to work. Should you not use SSH tunneling, you must open up additional ports. However, if the connection runs over the Internet without a general VPN, Stromasys strongly recommends to use SSH tunneling to protect your Charon-SSP cloud instance and any emulated systems running on it.
    • You must know the public IP address of the Charon-SSP host instance in the cloud. To determine this address, refer to the instance information displayed on the cloud management console.
    • To use the Charon Manager integrated SSH tunnel, you need the private SSH key of the key-pair associated with your instance.
  • For access a Charon host instance in a cloud via an SSH-based VPN or another VPN solution:
    • Active SSH-based VPN (see SSH VPN - Connecting Charon Host and Guest to Customer Network in the Charon-SSP User's Guide) or other active VPN solution
    • Private IP address of the Charon-SSP host in the VPN

Information about the initial management password configuration:
Before connecting to a Charon-SSP host with the Charon Manager for the first time after the initial installation you must set the management password. This can either be done via the command line (see SSH Command-Line Access) or via the Charon Manager itself as described below. 

Starting the Charon Manager and Login to Charon Host

Starting the Charon Manager

To start the Charon-SSP Manager on Linux and to open the Charon Manager login window, use the following command:

$ /opt/charon-manager/ssp-manager/ssp-manager

To start the Charon-SSP Manager on Microsoft Windows, click on the Desktop icon or use the entry in the Start menu.


The steps above will open the Charon Manager login window which has two tabs.


Entering Charon Manager Login Information and Connecting to Charon Host

Step 1: the Charon Manager Login tab

If the management password has not yet been set, perform the following steps:

  1. Enter the IP address of your Charon-SSP host instance in the IP address field.
  2. Leave the Password field empty.
  3. For cloud instances enable the SSH tunnel configuration (select ON).
    Set to OFF if connected to localhost. The SSH tunnel can generally be used if key-based SSH login is enabled on the target system.
  4. Change to the SSH tab to fill in the required information if the SSH tunnel has been enabled.

If the management password has already been set, perform the following steps:

  1. Enter the IP address of your Charon-SSP instance in the IP address field.
  2. Enter the Charon-SSP management password.
  3. Enable the SSH tunnel configuration for communication across a public network unless you use a secure VPN connection (key-based SSH login required).
  4. If the SSH tunnel is enabled, change to the SSH tab to fill in the required information there.

Step 2: the Charon Manager SSH tab

If you use the integrated SSH tunnel, perform the following steps:

  1. Enter the Charon-SSP user in the Username field. For prepackaged images, use charon or sshuser; for RPM installations use the user for whom the correct public key has been installed.
  2. Enter the path to the private key file (click on the three dots next to the Private key field to open a file browser). You typically associated your cloud instance with this key-pair during instance creation. The PuTTY key format (.ppk) is not supported).
  3. Enter the passphrase for the private key if required. 
  4. Adjust the server port (default 22) if required.

Please note: the public key of the key-pair must be in the .ssh/authorized_keys file of the user entered above
(sshuser and charon for prepackaged images).



Step 3: connecting to the Charon host system

After entering all the required information, click on Connect to connect to the Charon-SSP instance. If the management password still needs to be set, you will receive a prompt to enter the new password:

  1. Enter the desired password in the New password field and confirm it in the Confirm password field.
    This management password is then valid for all subsequent logins by the same or a different user until it is changed again. It is not removed if Charon-SSP is reinstalled. Note that older versions of the product will not prompt for the password at first login but will use a default password (stromasys). If you need to reset a forgotten management password, please refer to the Charon-SSP user's guide.
  2. Then click on OK.
  3. The login process continues.




After a connection has been successfully created, the Charon Manager welcome screen opens. Example of the Charon Manager welcome page:

Please note: the title bar of this screen indicates the managed system type in square brackets (conventional Red Hat installation in the example).

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