You now have a brand spanking new SSH key pair. For convenience you can leave the passphrase empty by simple pressing Enter twice. This is a text string of your choice that you would need to enter each time you use the key for authentication purposes. Next, the program prompts you for a passphrase. In this example I specify debian_server as the name, but you can change this to whatever name you prefer. The program prompts you to enter a file name for the key pair. Now that you are in the correct directory, start the SSH key pair creation process by entering command: If you get an error stating that this directory does not exits, create it with: So let’s start by opening the terminal and going to this directory:
On Linux, the ~/.ssh directory is designated for storing SSH keys. You can perform this step on your own PC. Generate SSH key pairĪs a first step we generate a new SSH key pair. As its name implies, do not share the private key with anyone else. Your server holds a copy of the public key and the private key should just be located on your PC. Thanks to these properties, it is highly unlikely that another key pair is alike, making it a perfect and secure option for SSH authentication purposes. This key pair forms a unique combination, with its contents based on hard to crack cryptography. One is called the public key and the other one is called the private key. What is an SSH key?Īn SSH key essentially consists of two files that belong together. Note that this latter part will be covered in a future article.
#SSH KEY COPY TO SERVER PASSWORD#
Afterwards you can disable SSH logins with a username and password altogether. Ideally you do this as soon as possible after setting up the server. One way of lowering the risk that this unwanted scenario happens is to generate and copy SSH key to server.
As the administrator of the server, you want to prevent this nightmare scenario from happening at all cost. Their ultimate goal is to take control of your server. With each connection attempt, they try a different username and password, with the hope that they can login.
Those with ill intentions can then run an automated script for continuously trying to gain access via SSH. This works fine, but what about security? For an Internet facing server, it is only a matter of time before someone determines its IP address and figures out that the server accepts SSH connections. Background infoĪfter setting up a Linux server with SSH access, you typically login by providing a username and password.
#SSH KEY COPY TO SERVER HOW TO#
Refer to this article for an example on how to setup a Debian based Linux server in VirtualBox. However, Debian is not a prerequisite because the commands are quite similar for other Linux distributions.
#SSH KEY COPY TO SERVER PC#
The instructions provided in this article are written for a Debian PC that connects to a Debian server with SSH. At the same time it adds convenience for you, because it enables you to login without providing a password every time. Logging in by means of an SSH key pair increases security. This tutorial shows you how to generate and copy SSH key to server. Do you manage a remote server with SSH and do you login with a username and password? Then it is about time that you switch to an alternative method: one where you identify yourself with an SSH key pair.
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