Mac OS X SCP (GUI)

From Luke Jackson

Contents 1 Summary 2 Requirements 3 Configuration 3.1 Generate Key-Pair

Summary

There is no built-in Graphical User Interface (GUI) client for scp on Mac OS X.

There for this tutorial demonstrates how to configure your Mac for GUI based scp.

Requirements

1. Mac OS X 10.4.X+
2. Built-in Terminal Application
3. SSH-Agent GUI Client - Download
4. Fugu GUI SCP Client - Download

Configuration

Please follow the steps below.

Generate Key-Pair

You must create a key-pair in order to access the server. You can do this via the Terminal Application that is found under Applications => Utilities (Programme => Dienstprogramme).

Once you start the Terminal you should see a prompt similar to the one below:

ljackson-PowerBook:~ ljackson$

The important data is directly after the : ~ this is your working directory and this will change depending on you current location on the disk.

So now we will test to see if the folder .ssh exists on your system:

cd .ssh

If you receive a response like below you will have to create the folder with the command below. If your working path has changed to ~/.ssh then the folder already exists and you can continue with the next step.

-bash: cd: .ssh: No such file or directory

mkdir .ssh
cd .ssh

If your prompt now reads ~/.ssh you are ready to create your key-pair.

Type the command below to start the ssh-keygen script:

ssh-keygen -t dsa -b 1024

Generating public/private dsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/ljackson/.ssh/id_dsa): spreadshirt.lja
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): <password>
Enter same passphrase again: <password>
Your identification has been saved in spreadshirt.lja.
Your public key has been saved in spreadshirt.lja.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
ec:d9:9e:a0:ae:19:c3:96:b1:c4:98:a0:e8:e0:34:84 ljackson@ljackson-PowerBook.local