How-To: Use the Credentials Manager Introduced in SecureCRT/SecureFX 9.2

[bgagnon]

The Credentials Manager is a new feature that has been implemented in SecureCRT and SecureFX version 9.2. The Credentials Manager is designed to reduce complexity by allowing users to manage saved credentials globally for SSH1, SSH2 and RDP connections.

Instead of replicating copies of credentials across saved sessions, credential sets can now be stored in the Credentials Manager and referenced within a connection's Session Options.

If an account's password changes, that password change can now be applied to the corresponding entry in the Credentials Manager; all sessions linking to that credential set by title will automatically be able to use that new password during the connection attempt.


Managing Credentials:
To add a new credential set:

1. Open SecureCRT's Global Options and navigate to the General / Credentials category.
   

   
   

   Alternatively: Open the Quick Connect window or a Session Options window, enable the Credentials option, and click on the credentials "keys" icon:

   
   

2. Press the [Add...] button to bring up the Credential Properties window.

   
   

3. Assign a unique Title for the credentials you are adding.
   
   
4. Specify the Username that is associated with the credentials you are adding.
   
   
5. Rearrange the Authentication list so that the authentication method ordering preferred by this credential set will reflect your preference. For example, if you are storing a saved password, make sure that the ordering of the list is Keyboard Interactive followed by Password (both of these authentication methods share the same saved password, but many systems won't work with the Password authentication method so Keyboard Interactive should normally be listed first in the authentication list).
   
   
6. With either the Password or the Keyboard Interactive authentication method selected in the Authentication list, press the [Properties...] button to bring up the Password Properties window.

   a) Enable the Store Password option
   b) Enter the password to be used for this credential set
   c) Confirm the password that you have entered
   d) Press the OK button to dismiss the Password Properties window

   
   

7. Press the [OK] button to dismiss the Credential Properties window.

   
   

8. Repeat steps 1-7 for each different credential set that you desire to add to the Credentials Manager.

Using Saved Credentials:
Credential sets that you have stored in the Credentials Manager will be available to you wherever you see an option to use credentials. To use a credential set, specify the Title as seen in the credentials selection dropdown. For example:

• From within the Quick Connect window

  
  

• From within the New Session Wizard

  
  

• From within the Session Options window

Note: Within saved sessions, to leverage credentials that you have saved in the Credentials Manager, you will need to edit existing sessions to change from using a local session-specific username and password to use the corresponding credential set (by title) instead.

Editing Saved Credentials:
Whenever a username or password needs to be changed:

1. Bring up the Credentials Manager
   
   
2. Locate the entry by Title
   
   
3. Make the necessary edits/modifications

All sessions which refer to that credential set by title will automatically be able to reference the new information the next time a connection is attempted.

If you change the Title of a saved credential set within the Credentials Manager, all saved sessions which refer to the credential by its old title will automatically be updated to refer to the new title.