Getting started with SSH in xDI Designer

Follow this guide to get started with SSH metadata, and use it in a process.

Create the metadata

Open the Create Metadata wizard. Choose the SSH Server type, and give your metadata a meaningful name.

Creation wizard showing SSH metadata type

After the wizard closes, the SSH metadata opens in a new tab, and is ready for you to configure.

Define the SSH server

The top-level metadata node has all the properties needed to configure connections to an SSH server. Fill out the fields as needed for your server.

Properties for the SSH metadata node

Table 1. Basic properties
Property	Description
Name	User-defined label to help reference the entry later.
Host	Hostname or IP address of the SSH server.
Port	Internet port on which the SSH server is listening.
User	SSH username.
Password	SSH password.
Timeout	Maximum amount of time that the SSH session can remain idle or inactive before it is closed, in milliseconds.

Table 2. Proxy properties
Property	Description
Host	Hostname or IP address of the proxy.
Port	Internet port to use for the proxy.
Username	HTTP username for the proxy.
Password	HTTP password for the proxy.

Table 3. Key properties
Property	Description
Private Key File	Path to a private SSH key, if needed for server authentication.
Password Phrase	Passphrase of the SSH key file, if any.

Table 4. Additional properties
Property	Description
Additional Connection Properties	Any additional connection properties, in the form of `key=value` Java properties. One key-value pair per line.

Define remote directories for later use

In SSH Server metadata, you can preconfigure remote paths to use in various SSH or SCP processes.

Right-click the top-level SSH Server metadata node, and select New > Remote directory.

Edit the subnode properties by filling out the corresponding fields.

Table 5. Basic properties
Property	Description
Name	User-defined label to help reference the remote directory entry later.
Path	Directory on the remote server to perform operations in, relative to the connection directory.
System Absolute Path	Directory on the remote server to perform operations in, as an absolute path.

Properties for the SSH metadata

Use the metadata in processes

Designer has four process actions which can use SSH metadata objects:

Drag and drop an SSH metadata object onto one of these actions to fill out connection settings automatically.

The SCP process actions can also take Remote directory nodes instead. Remote directory nodes set the connection and the remote directory at the same time.

Example process with SSH actions

It is a good idea to use metadata objects, instead of defining the equivalent parameters in process actions. Using metadata objects simplifies maintenance, debugging, and updates. You can also use configurations to test different settings and environments.

For more information about configurations, see Work with Metadata configurations.