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Before using jFed
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Get An Account and Certificate
==============================

jFed works with `X.509 certificates <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X.509>`_ to authenticate and authorize experimenters on testbeds.

Fetching your Fed4FIRE certificate
----------------------------------

You can use a `Fed4FIRE certificate <http://doc.fed4fire.eu/getanaccount.html>`_ to login with jFed.

If you don't have a Fed4FIRE certificate, please refer to the Fed4FIRE documentation on how to `get an account and certificate <http://doc.fed4fire.eu/getanaccount.html>`_

Once you are logged in to your account at `https://authority.ilabt.iminds.be`_ you can download the certificate needed to login to jFed. Look for the ``Download your certificate`` link.

.. note:: If jFed is installed, you can also start it directly from this site. If you do so, you will need to login again inside jFed, and your certificate will be fetched by jFed.


Fetching your GENI certificate
------------------------------

If you have a GENI account, you can fetch the certificate from the portal as follows:

1. Go to the `GENI portal <https://portal.geni.net>`_ and log in
2. click on ``Profile``
3. click on ``SSL``
4. Download your certificate and private key as shown in the screenshot below.

.. figure:: _static/geniportal.PNG
     :align: center
     :width: 800

Create an SSH key (optional)
============================

Access to testbed resources is typically done through SSH and more specifically SSH based on public/private key authentication.
If you already have an SSH key, you can skip this.

If not, follow this tutorial to create an SSH key: http://doc.fed4fire.eu/createsshkey.html

.. note:: Optionally, you can choose not to use a custom SSH key. In that case, jFed will use the SSH key used to authenticate you.