Deth's Super PC Management Cheat Sheet

[DoctorDeth]

Putty Setup

You should have putty actually installed on your system, not just dumped in the NWN folder. If you don't have it installed, download the 64 or 32 bit MSI installer (as appropriate for your PC.. if unsure, check here) from the PuTTY site (in the MSI (‘Windows Installer’) section under Package files and run it on your computer.

This should put putty in C:\Program Files\Putty (along with some other goodies). This will not wipe out any of your existing saved sessions.

Adding a saved session

When you double-click the PuTTY icon, it should open the configuration panel (example pic).

In that panel, you can store a configuration set for connecting to one host (name/IP, options, etc.) in one - easy to remember -name. If all you have is "Default Settings", you're missing out. Read on.

1. in the hostname/ip address box, put "arabel.cityofarabel.com", set the port to 8222
2. in the box just under "saved sessions" put "Arabel" (or AraDev)
3. in the tree on the left, click on "Translation" (under Window).
4. Set the "Remote character set" to "UTF-8" (this fixes the byobu screen corruption issue)
5. On the "Connection" -> "Data" panel, change the "Terminal-type string" to "putty" (all lower case).
6. On the same "Data" panel, put "arabel" in the "Auto-login username" box at the top.
7. Click back on "Session" at the top of the list on the left
8. Click "Save" to the right of the saved sessions area.

If you created one for Arabel, you can create another saved session for AraDev. Click on the one you created, then click "Load", then execute step 8 with the other username, go back to "Sessions" and put AraDev in the "Saved Sessions" box and click "Save" to create two connections to connect to either one.

Now, when you open PuTTY, you can just double-click on "Arabel" in the saved sessions and it will connect immediately to the server.

Setting up a putty key

This is why you want putty installed for real.

Part one: The key

Go to your putty folder (C:\Program Files\Putty) and open puttygen. This program will generate a private/public key pair you can use for more convenient logins.

Click on "Generate" and follow the instructions. Change the key comment if you want, but this is YOUR generic key you can use for authentication with many sources. Leave it on "RSA" at the bottom. Give it a passphrase (password). This password never leaves your PC so it only has to be marginally secure.

I recommend saving it in your home directory - C:\users\{your username}. You need to save both the public key and private key separately (preferably to the same directory). The private key will be a .ppk file. The public key is just a .txt file. An example would be hubby_private_key.ppk and hubby_public_key.txt

Important: Before closing puttygen, copy all the text section at the top labeled "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file" and send this to your server admin/DM type person.

Part two: Loading the key automatically

Find your Startup folder (varies depending on what version of Windows you are running - Google is your friend: "windows 10 startup folder" for example).

In the Startup folder, right click and create a shortcut. In the "Target" box, put in:

"C:\Program Files\PuTTY\pageant.exe" "C:\Uesrs\{your home dir}\{your key}.ppk"
(quotes are important)

Now, when you start Windows, it will automatically load that key and paegent will be running in the background. Log out and log back in to your desktop to get Pageant to start in the background before attempting to connect with PuTTY. If it's set up correctly, it should pop up a little window asking for your passphrase you used to create the key when you log on.

Part three: Closing the loop

The only remaining part is to send the PUBLIC key (copied from the "Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file" section of the Puttygen window) to an existing admin to get them to add it to the /home/arabel/.ssh/authorized_keys file and include a comment on who's key it is.

For access to althernate users (aradev, arabelee, etc.), add the key to the appropriate authorized keys file (e.g. /home/arabelee/.ssh/authorized_keys).

Once that's done, you can open PuTTY and double click on Arabel without having to type a password (you will have to put your passphrase in the first time after you reboot, though).

You can also do the same thing for AraDev - get an admin to add to the AraDev authorized_keys as above, and create a new shortcut that connects to aradev in PuTTY.

You got the bonus plan!

In addition to Putty, you can import this same key into FileZilla and not have to use a password there as well. See this short guide for information on importing the key into FZ.

Server stuff

Recent wrapper changes don't require you to run byobu any more. If you still use that, read on for more info.

Note: if your byobu screen looks odd, or scrolls off the screen eventually, check the "adding a saved session" part above for some more notes.

With proper putty setup, the byobu usage should be the same as previous guides. Although there are some convenient function keys that work now (like F3, F4 to scroll back, next through the windows). F2 creates a new window. You can type "exit" to get rid of a session you created by accident or no longer need.

If you open byobu and don't see what you think you should see, check the bottom left and see how many sessions there are. A typical window looks like this. This window only has one terminal open (the "0:-*" in the lower left). Additional sessions (windows) would be "1:–", "2:--", etc. The current session is highlighted and has an asterisk as the last character.

[DoctorDeth]

I made a small update that can affect the proper function of the "F" keys (e.g. F1, F2, etc.) in byobu if not set correctly (number 5 in the "Adding a Saved Session" section above).

To correct this if you're session is already created:

1. Open the PuTTY configuration page (just run PuTTY from the Start Menu)
2. Click on the saved session for Arabel and click "Load"
3. On the left, click on "Data" in the "Connection" section.
4. Change the "Terminal-type string" to "putty" (middle of the window under the "Terminal details" section.
5. On the left, click on "Session"
6. The saved session should still be selected. Click "Save" to update the settings.

[DoctorDeth]

Refreshed the instructions in general. Made some small tweaks and clarifications.

[DoctorDeth]

Re: https://nodebb.cityofarabel.com/topic/54485/make-some-npcs-brown/10

Source management: http://www.ericladner.name:9090/HubbyCoA/arabel-v6/

If the tools are used properly, it doesn't cause problems, but people copy/paste in bizarre characters that cause issues with the tools used to manage the source.

Using the built-in constants via StringToRGBString are OK.

[Zool]

@DoctorDeth Ok, so... the characters on the names of NPC's go into the source management... in... some instances?

I figured that handled scripts only and wasn't sure it was even able to extract things like individual NPC names from within the module itself.

We could, use a script in the OnSpawn, check a variable sColour - which then modified their name using the StringToRGBString stuff if neccessary?

[DoctorDeth]

@Zool Correct - this would only be colors assigned in scripts. Colors on NPC's, items, etc., in the module itself would be immune to this.

[Zool]

@DoctorDeth Excellent.

Then there is no technical barrier to this