Create devio.us account

Post date: Jan 18, 2011 12:37:34 PM

devio.us provides free OpenBSD accounts for people meeting certain conditions. If you are a student, or have a project, or webpage, you can probably get a basic account for free. However:

You will not get an account if your sole purpose is to:

  • Run an eggdrop/bnc

  • Compile 'nmap' and scan the internets

  • Be an elite hacker

  • Tunnel traffic so you can access Facebook from work

This isn't a virtual machine; you will have a user account on a single devio.us system.

Prerequisites

Email address

PuTTY or other terminal program

Create SSH keys with MSYS or puttygen.

Sign up

Go to the sign-up page.

Enter your info:

  • First and Last Name (no obvious fake names)

  • Email address

  • Username (your website will be http://devio.us/~username

  • Unix shell: bash, tcsh, zsh, ksh, csh

  • "How did you hear about us?"

  • "What will your account be used for?"

    • This is the deciding factor for whether you will get a free account or not.

Click "Submit". It may take hours or days for your account to be approved (or rejected).

If approved, you will receive an email with your:

  • account name

  • account password

  • database name

  • database user

  • database password.

If rejected, you will receive an email with an explanation.

Log in with SSH

In a standard terminal, such as MSYS + mintty:

ssh username@devio.us

Check the SSH fingerprint and enter "yes"

In PuTTY, create a new session with these settings:

  • Host Name: devio.us

  • Connection type: SSH

  • Saved Sessions: devio.us username

Click "Save" button, then "Open".

Check the SSH fingerprint and click "Yes".

Enter the account name and password from the approval email. I recommend you use copy/paste for the password, because sometimes O's look like 0's, and l's look like 1's.

After successful login, you should see the devio.us message of the day.

Use SSH keys for login/SFTP

On your devio.us account, run these commands:

  • mkdir $HOME/.ssh

  • touch $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys

Append the contents of your local public key id_rsa.pub file to authorized_keys on devio.us.

Use SSH keys from PuTTY

If you're using PuTTY instead of MSYS or a native terminal application, you must configure it.

  • Run putty.exe

  • Select the saved "devio.us" session and click "Load".

  • Go to "Connection" > "SSH" > "Auth".

  • Uncheck "Attempt authentication using Pageant" and "Attempt keyboard-interactive authentication".

  • Click "Browse" and select the PuTTY private key id_rsa.ppk file you generated.

  • Go to "Session" again.

  • Click "Save".

  • Click "Open"

  • Enter your devio.us username and passphrase (if needed).

Configure FileZilla for SFTP to devio.us

  • Start Filezilla.

  • Go to "File" menu > "Site Manager".

  • Click "New Site" and enter a description for devio.us.

  • Enter "devio.us" in the "Host" field.

  • Change "Server Type" to "SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol"

  • Change "Logon Type" to "Normal" or "Ask for Password".

  • Enter username and password.

  • Enter a comment in the "Comment" field.

  • Click "OK".

  • Use the "Site Manager" menu (under "File") to select devio.us.

If all went well, you'll see a file listing in the "Remote site" section.

Update user information

By default, other devio.us users can see your username and "real name" in /etc/passwd.

Change or anonymize your visible "real name" by running:

chfn

Create a .plan file explaining what you use your devio.us account for:

vi $HOME/.plan

Check other users' information:

finger username

Change your password:

passwd

Create a webpage

HTML files are stored in public_html under your HOME directory. Use FileZilla to transfer files here.