Prerequisites

• Ensure your OCEAN membership is current ;-)
• Get your IBM i credentials from OCEAN

Installs

• Download & install Java - https://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

  • OpenJDK works too, if you prefer not to use anything from Oracle

• Download & install ACS - http://ibm.biz/IBMi_ACS

  • Requires an IBM ID (easy to do and mostly painless)

• Download & install Git for Windows - https://git-scm.com/download/win

• Download & install Visual Studio Code - https://code.visualstudio.com/download

Setting up ACS

• Open ACS

• Go to Management > System Configurations
  

• Click the New button in the system configurations window

• In the General tab:

  • System Name: OCSKUNKS.oceanusergroup.org
  • Description: OCSKUNKS direct connection
  • Use SSL: checked
    

• In the Connection tab:

  • Pasword Prompting: Use default user name to prompt once for each system
  • Default user name: Your IBM i user profile
  • IP address lookup: One day
    

• Verify the connection:

  • Go back to the General tab and click the Verify button:
    

  • If this is the first time you connect, you will need to add the OCSKUNKS CA Certificate:
    

  • You should see this:
    

Setting up SSH

Generate local SSH key

• Press Ctrl+` to open the terminal inside Visual Studio Code (displays at the bottom of the screen).

  The ` should be the key above the Tab key

• Enter the following command to change your current working directory to your home:
  cd ~

• Print your current working directory with this command:
  pwd

  This should print something like c/Users/YourWindowsUsername

• Check to see if you already have an SSH key using this command:
  cat .ssh/id_ed25519.pub

  You need to generate a key if you see an error like this:
  cat: .ssh/id_ed25519.pub: No such file or directory

  • Enter the following command to generate an SSH key:
    ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    Press Enter twice to leave the passphrase blank

    ssh-keygen is the command to run (generate key)
    -t ed25519 specifies the type of key to create
    -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 specifies the filename of the generated key

  ⚠️ Note: If you don't already have a .ssh folder, you may have to create one.

Copy your public SSH key to IBM i

⚠️ Be sure you copy your public key (should end with .pub)

Using ACS

Open System Configurations, highlight your system, and press Edit.
Select the SSH Key setup tab, and press the "Copy SSH key(s) to server" button.

Select the id_ed25519.pub key

Using SQL

Copy the public key to your clipboard:

• Run the cat .ssh/id_ed25519.pub command to view the public key
  Copy the public key to your clipboard

Use SQL to add the public key

CALL QSYS2.IFS_WRITE_UTF8(
    PATH_NAME =>'/home/{IBM i Profile}/.ssh/authorized_keys',
    LINE => '{public_key_from_clipboard}',
    OVERWRITE => 'APPEND',
    END_OF_LINE => 'NONE'
);

⚠️ Be sure to change {IBM i Profile} to your user profile.
⚠️ Be sure to paste your public key here {public_key_from_clipboard}.

Set permissions

In the terminal, enter the following commands:
chmod 755 ~
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Open a green-screen terminal, and use QSH to run the following commands:
chmod 755 ~
chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Set up Visual Studio Code

Set the default shell

Open Visual Studio Code.
Press F1 to open the command prompt (displays at the top of the screen).
Type "Terminal: Select Default Profile" in the search bar and press Enter.
Select "Git Bash" from the drop-down list.

Install Code for IBM i

Open the extensions tab and install the "IBM i Development Pack" extension.

Add a connection

Open the IBM i activity panel.
Click the "+" in the SERVERS tab.
Add your connection:

• Connection Name: Can be whatever makes sense to you
• Host or IP Address: OCSKUNKS.oceanusergroup.org
• Port: enter the SSH port number here
• Username: your IBM i user profile
• Private Key: Press the "Select File" button and find your id_ed25519 key
  ⚠️ This time you select your private key (should end NOT with .pub)