SecureFX for Windows - Quick Start Guide

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About This Document

This document provides getting started instructions for using SecureFX in the MIT environment. It is not meant to be a general purpose guide to using SecureFX's many features. SecureFX provides detailed online help for this purpose. This document assumes that you have already downloaded and installed the MIT-customized version of SecureFX

Prerequisites

Aside from a few system requirements (select your version from the list to see them), there are no additional prerequisites for using SecureFX at MIT. However, you must connect to a server that supports SSH2 in order to make a secure connection. Most servers on MITnet support the SSH2 protocol. If you are unsure whether a server supports SSH2, contact the server administrator before you connect.

Since SecureFX uses SSH2 for secure connectivity, Kerberos is not required to use SecureFX. More information is also available regarding Kerberized File Transfer at MIT. See also

Configuring SecureFX

The MIT download of SecureFX has been pre-configured with a session profile for you to log on to your Athena home directory.
For help with configuring a session to another server, see the Getting Started section in SecureFX's online help system.

Summary of Session Settings:

• SecureCRT Protocol: SSH2
• Hostname: ftp.dialup.mit.edu
• Port: 22
• Firewall: none
• Username: (your kerberos username without ‘@MIT.edu’)
• SecureFX Protocol: SFTP
• Enter a Session Name: “Athena-NEW”

Connecting Securely

This section provides step-by-step instructions to help you establish a secure connection to ftp.dialup.mit.edu using SecureFX.

Establish a secure connection to Athena using SecureFX following these steps:

• Click on the Windows start button, then the SecureFX folder, select the SecureFX application.
  SecureFX opens with a Connect window, Select Athena under FTP sites.

• The Server's host key fingerprint (MD5 hash) for ftp.dialup.mit.edu should be: 98:98:11:5b:bc:70:9d:a5:65:85:5a:20:89:c8:94:c3
  If this matches, Click Accept and Save.

• Clicking on Connect will attempt to connect and if it fails, displaying the error below then modify the settings using the "Summary of Session Settings" section above.

If you run into issues, go ahead and create a new session by clicking on the plus in the image below.

• Enter your SSH username in the Username field. This is the same as your Athena username. Optionally, you may also check the Save password box to have SecureFX remember your username for future logons.

The Username field contains the Username you entered and the Save password box has been checked.

Authenticate using Duo.

Once connected, you'll see the file tree of your athena locker workspace on the right, the left is your local file tree.

Downloading or Uploading a File

Like many graphical Windows file transfer programs, SecureFX provides a two-pane interface that is similar to Windows Explorer. The left pane provides a view of the your local storage drive, and the right pane provides a view of the file system that belongs to the server to which you are connected (Athena).

Uploading a file to Athena:

1. Follow the procedure in the previous section of this document to connect to your Athena home directory securely.
2. In the Local (left side) window, browse to and open the folder/directory that contains the files you want to upload.
   In the example below, we can see the Downloads folder which contains a single file named myfile.txt.
   
   
   
3. In the remote/session window (Athena), browse to and open the folder/directory to which you want to upload the local files.
   In the example below you can see the user locker folder structure (Desktop, Downloads etc.) which is within a folder listed as your kerberos username.
   
   
   
4. You can now initiate the file transfer using either the drag-and-drop or cut-and-paste method.
   1. Drag-and-drop: Using the left mouse button, click on the icon for the file you want to transfer and continue to hold down the left mouse button. While still holding down the left mouse button, move the mouse cursor so that it is positioned over the right-hand pane of the remote window. Release the left mouse button to "drop" the file on the remote window.
      Or:
   2. Copy-and-paste: Select/highlight the files that you want to transfer, and choose Edit > Copy. Then, select the folder/directory in the remote window to which you want to upload the files, and choose Edit > Paste.

Note for Advanced Users: The copy/paste or drag-and-drop methods may also be used to initiate file and folder transfers directly between remote FTP servers.

Logging Out

When you have finished uploading/downloading files, be sure to log out of Athena. To do this, ensure that the Remote window is selected, then choose File > Disconnect.

To exit SecureFX, which will also prompt you to log you off (if connected), choose File > Exit.

Related Links

Secure CRT and FX 6.x for Windows