SSH on ISG Blog · D-MATH

SSH key fingerprints of D-MATH hosts

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 09:03:41 +0200

When connecting to a new OpenSSH server for the first time you’ll be prompted to accept its host key – but how do you know if it is valid?

username@asterix ~$ ssh sftpmath
The authenticity of host 'sftpmath (129.132.119.199)' can't be established.
RSA key fingerprint is SHA256:o8jYLjJZIkG8+V474HcSdUVJTvSjYOYT3qQi8+8kFtE.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

This case should happen to you only while connecting from a private computer. In this case you should compare the fingerprint (see the output above) with the corresponding one on the list that you can find here:

SSH Access to D-MATH network from outside

Mon, 05 May 2025 11:43:21 +0200

If you are using the D-MATH WiFi or VPN configuration (with “math-guest”), you are already in the D-MATH network and can reach all important hosts directly (e.g., ssh host -l <eth-username>).

If you are using the default ETH VPN (i.e. connected with “staff-net” or “student-net”) you can simply access the D-MATH network (e.g. our central clients) with SSH via pytharski just by entering the following command in a terminal:

ssh pytharski.math.ethz.ch -l <eth-username>
# or just
ssh pytharski -l <eth-username>
# and if your local username is the same as the ETH one, then
ssh pytharski

The first time you log in to pytharski you also have to accept the host key (please verify the fingerprint that you get with this list). Then at the “Hostname or command”-prompt enter for example “ada-29” and you are in:

Secure File Transfer (SFTP) to the D-MATH network

Wed, 17 May 2023 10:42:54 +0200

SFTP can be used on all platforms, incl. Linux, Windows and Mac to transfer files to / from the D-MATH fileservers.

Filezilla for all platforms

Open the application filezilla, if you need to install it you can download it from:

https://filezilla-project.org/

With the following information you can connect

Host: sftp://sftpmath.math.ethz.ch
Username: [your username]
Password: [D-MATH password]

Click on the button “Quickconnect”
You may need to trust the ssh host key of the server to be able to connect