- Set up your first SSH keys. Use SSH keys for authentication when you are connecting to your server, or even between your servers. They can greatly simplify and increase the security of your login process. When keys are implemented correctly they provide a secure.
- The public ssh key will be used on the destination Linux VPS servers that will accept the private key. Deploy the Public SSH Key to destination systems The easiest way to accomplish this is to copy the contents of the public key, login to destination Linux/Unix system and paste it in the authorizedkeys under the.ssh directory by default.
- This is what you would need to enter into the control panel to use the SSH key. Creating an SSH key on Linux. The tools to create and use SSH are standard, and should be present on most Linux distributions. With the following commands, you can generate ssh key. Run: ssh-keygen -t rsa. For a more secure 4096-bit key, run: ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096.
Apr 02, 2019 Using SSH Keys to connect to your VPS. In the days before Virtualization emerged, servers could only be built using physical hardware. A server admin would build a server, plug in a keyboard and monitor, and install Linux via CD or over the network. Dec 01, 2011 Requirements for using SSH to login to your VPS or Dedicated Server. Make sure you generate an SSH key before getting started with your Ansible Management Container. This entry was posted in SSH and Root Access, VPS Hosting and tagged login ssh putty VPS Dedicated 2xram.
I recently read that SSH keys provide a secure way of logging into a Linux and Unix-based server. How do I set up SSH keys on a Linux or Unix based systems? In SSH for Linux/Unix, how do I set up public key authentication?This page explains a public key and shows you how to set up SSH keys on a Linux or Unix-like server. I am assuming that you are using Linux or Unix-like server and client with the following software:
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- OpenSSH SSHD server
- OpenSSH ssh client and friends on Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, {Free,Open,Net}BSD, RHEL, CentOS, MacOS/OSX, AIX, HP-UX and co).
![Vps Vps](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126097471/655782110.jpg)
What is a public key authentication?
OpenSSH server supports various authentication schema. The two most popular are as follows:
- Passwords based authentication
- Public key based authentication. It is an alternative security method to using passwords. This method is recommended on a VPS, cloud, dedicated or even home based server.
How to set up SSH keys
Steps to setup secure ssh keys:
- Create the ssh key pair using ssh-keygen command.
- Copy and install the public ssh key using ssh-copy-id command on a Linux or Unix server.
- Add yourself to sudo or wheel group admin account.
- Disable the password login for root account.
- Test your password less ssh keys login using ssh user@server-name command.
Generate A Ssh Key To Login To My Vps Access
Let us see all steps in details.
How do I set up public key authentication?
You must generate both a public and a private key pair. For example:
Where,
Where,
- server1.cyberciti.biz – You store your public key on the remote hosts and you have an accounts on this Linux/Unix based server.
- client1.cyberciti.biz – Your private key stays on the desktop/laptop/ computer (or local server) you use to connect to server1.cyberciti.biz server. Do not share or give your private file to anyone.
In public key based method you can log into remote hosts and server, and transfer files to them, without using your account passwords. Feel free to replace server1.cyberciti.biz and client1.cyberciti.biz names with your actual setup. Enough talk, let’s set up public key authentication. Open the Terminal and type following commands if .ssh directory does not exists:
1: Create the key pair
On the computer (such as client1.cyberciti.biz), generate a key pair for the protocol.
Sample outputs:
You need to set the Key Pair location and name. I recommend you use the default location if you do not yet have another key there, for example: $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa. You will be prompted to supply a passphrase (password) for your private key. I suggest that you setup a passphrase when prompted. You should see two new files in $HOME/.ssh/ directory:
- $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa– contains your private key.
- $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub – contain your public key.
Optional syntax for advance users
The following syntax specifies the 4096 of bits in the RSA key to creation (default 2048):
Where,
$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -f ~/.ssh/vps-cloud.web-server.key -C 'My web-server key'
Where,
- -t rsa : Specifies the type of key to create. The possible values are “rsa1” for protocol version 1 and “dsa”, “ecdsa”, “ed25519”, or “rsa” for protocol version 2.
- -b 4096 : Specifies the number of bits in the key to create
- -f ~/.ssh/vps-cloud.web-server.key : Specifies the filename of the key file.
- -C 'My web-server key' : Set a new comment.
2: Install the public key in remote server
Use scp or ssh-copy-id command to copy your public key file (e.g., $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub) to your account on the remote server/host (e.g., [email protected]). To do so, enter the following command on your client1.cyberciti.biz:
OR just copy the public key in remote server as authorized_keys in ~/.ssh/ directory:
A note about appending the public key in remote server
On some system ssh-copy-id command may not be installed, so use the following commands (when prompted provide the password for remote user account called vivek) to install and append the public key:
3: Test it (type command on client1.cyberciti.biz)
The syntax is as follows for the ssh command:
Or copy a text file called foo.txt:
You will be prompted for a passphrase. To get rid of passphrase whenever you log in the remote host, try ssh-agent and ssh-add commands.
What are ssh-agent and ssh-add, and how do I use them?
To get rid of a passphrase for the current session, add a passphrase to ssh-agent and you will not be prompted for it when using ssh or scp/sftp/rsync to connect to hosts with your public key. The syntax is as follows:
Type the ssh-add command to prompt the user for a private key passphrase and adds it to the list maintained by ssh-agent command:
Enter your private key passphrase. Now try again to log into [email protected] and you will not be prompted for a password:
One can list public key parameters of all identities with the -L option:
Deleting all private keys from the ssh-agent can be done with the -D option as follows:
When you log out kill the ssh agent, run:
You can also add something like the below to your shell startup to kill ssh-agent at logout:
ssh-add -L
Deleting all private keys from the ssh-agent can be done with the -D option as follows:
ssh-add -D
When you log out kill the ssh agent, run:
kill $SSH_AGENT_PID
You can also add something like the below to your shell startup to kill ssh-agent at logout:
trap 'kill $SSH_AGENT_PID' 0
4: Disable the password based login on a server
Login to your server, type:
Generate A Ssh Key To Login To My Vps Address
Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config on server1.cyberciti.biz using a text editor such as nano or vim:
Warning: Make sure you add yourself to sudoers files. Otherwise you will not able to login as root later on. See “How To Add, Delete, and Grant Sudo Privileges to Users on a FreeBSD Server” for more info.
$ sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
OR directly jump to PermitRootLogin line using a vim text editor:
$ sudo vim +/PermitRootLogin /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Find PermitRootLogin and set it as follows:
Save and close the file. I am going to add a user named vivek to sudoers on Ubuntu Linux:
Finally, reload/restart the sshd server, type command as per your Linux/Unix version:
# adduser vivek
Finally, reload/restart the sshd server, type command as per your Linux/Unix version:
5: How to add or replace a passphrase for an existing private key?
To to change your passphrase type the following command:
ssh-keygen -p
6: How do I backup an existing private/public key?
Just copy files to your backup server or external USB pen/hard drive:
How do I protect my ssh keys?
- Always use a strong passphrase.
- Do not share your private keys anywhere online or store in insecure cloud storage.
- Restrict privileges of the account.
![Generate Generate](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126097471/662571564.png)
How do I create and setup an OpenSSH config file to create shortcuts for servers I frequently access?
See how to create and use an OpenSSH ssh_config file for more info.
Conclusion
This page explained how to set up ssh keys for authentication purposes. For more info see the following resources:
- Man pages – ssh-keygen(1)
- OpenSSH project homepage here.
And, there you have it, ssh set up with public key based authentication for Linux or Unix-like systems.
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