Textual SSH

• Textual SSH
  • TODO
  • About
    • Bash
      • Bash - Setup
      • Bash - Usage
    • Python
      • Python - Setup
    • Alias
      • Alias - Bash - Setup
      • Alias - Python - Setup

TODO

• setup the python portion
• maybe also get it setup to use specific password files
  • Consider using environment variables or a secure keyring service like pass or gopass

About

This project is an attempt at trying to get a python textual front end connecting to a backend bash script as a way of connecting to various servers using ssh.

Bash

The bash portion is to do the following:

• The script dynamically constructs the ssh command based on the input parameters and the JSON configuration.
• It retrieves the user, domain, and machine_name from the JSON file.
• The display_help function shows a list of valid machine types and domains in a tabular format using column -t. This makes it easy to understand the available options.
• The base script checks if the provided machine_type and domain exist in the JSON configuration. If not, it displays an error message and the help text.

Bash - Setup

• Create a .json file to match what your case is (also visible in example.json)

  • Example:

    {
        "user": "user",
        "domains": {
            "east": "us-east.com",
            "west": "us-west.com"
        },
        "machines": {
            "db1": "test-db1",
            "db2": "test-db2",
            "ui": "test-ui",
            "server": "test-server"
        }
    }

• Also create a .env file that will store your password (if needed)

  PASSWORD=mypassword

• Adding New Machines/domains:

  • To add new machine types or domains, simply update the machines.json file.

• Support for Different Users:

  • You can extend create new json files with different users as needed.

Bash - Usage

• Make sure the scripts are executable:

  chmod +x connect_base.sh
  chmod +x connect_plain.sh
  chmod +x connect_pass.sh

• Run the script with parameters:

  ./connect db east
  ./connect_pass db east

  This will connect to ssh user@test-db1.us-east.com and print the password for manual entry.

• Run the script without parameters to see the help text:

  ./connect
  ./connect_pass

  This will display a list of available machine types and domains.

Python

The python portion is a script making use of the textual library to make a clickable user interface in the terminal that can be used to select the machine and domain rather than typing.

• would be really neat if it even came with the option to add to the file from the interface
• also would be nice for "one off connections" that allow user input
  • even cooler if it kept a history of these "one offs" in a separate db-esq file

Python - Setup

Alias

Once all of this is setup, it would be good to make aliases that could be used to call these from anywhere

Alias - Bash - Setup

Add the following lines into your .bashrc (or where ever you prefer to stick your aliases)

connect=~/git/textual-servers/bash/connect_plain.sh
connect-pass=~/git/textual-servers/bash/connect_pass.sh

Alias - Python - Setup

Add the following lines into your .bashrc (or where ever you prefer to stick your aliases)

connect=~/git/textual-servers/bash/connect.py