To generate SSH keys in Mac OS X, follow these steps: Enter the following command in the Terminal window. Ssh-keygen -t rsa. Press the ENTER key to accept the default location. The ssh-keygen utility prompts you for a passphrase. Type in a passphrase. You can also hit the ENTER key to accept the default (no passphrase). OpenSSH is the de facto standard implementation of the SSH protocol. If PuTTY and OpenSSH differ, PuTTY is the one that's incompatible. If you generate a key with OpenSSH using ssh-keygen with the default options, it will work with virtually every server out there.
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In this article, '[email protected]' is used as the login example. Make sure to replace username with your actual. Make sure to replace the servername with your. The following are instructions on how to set up Passwordless Login for any Unix, Linux, OSX, or Cygwin machine.
STEP ONE – Generating the key pair On your home computer:. Generate an RSA private key using (unless you have already created one). If you’re using Linux or Mac OS X, open your terminal and run the following command under your username. If you click 'Enter', the key will be created with the default name of 'idrsa'.
You can name this anything you like, but if you choose a custom name, you'll need to let your SSH client know about the new key name. View Step #3 below for details. Also, if you choose to use a custom name, make sure to specify the full path to your user's.ssh directory. If you do not, the new key pair is created in the directory you're running the command.
Once the keypair is created, you are prompted to enter the following items. Click Enter on your keyboard to continue. You do not need to enter a passphrase, but it's highly recommended as it protects your private key if compromised. If so, someone would still need your passphrase in order to unlock it. The exception to this is if you're running an automated process such as as cron job. You should then leave the password out. From: 'Generally all keys used for interactive access should have a passphrase.
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Keys without a passphrase are useful for fully automated processes.' . Click Enter on your keyboard to continue. The authenticity of host 'server.dreamhost.com (208.113.136.55)' can't be established. RSA key fingerprint is 50:46:95:5f:27:c9:fc:f5:f5:32:d4:3a:e9:cb:4f:9f.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? Yes Warning: Permanently added 'server.dreamhost.com,208.113.136.55' (RSA) to the list of known hosts. [email protected]'s password:. You can confirm the fingerprint in your panel on the page. Enter 'yes' to continue.
Enter your ssh username password when prompted. The commands above create a new folder under your DreamHost user named /.ssh with 700 permissions. In that folder is your authorizedkeys file which was just copied from your home computer which has 600 permissions.
STEP 3 – Adding your custom key to your ssh client. This step is only necessary if you gave your key a custom name in Step #1 above. When creating your key pair, you choose what to name it. For example, the default name is 'idrsa', but you can name it anything you like while creating it. However, if you choose a custom name, you'll need to let your SSH client know about the new key.
You do this by starting ssh-agent. Start ssh-agent by running the following command. Make sure you use the backquote ` character and not a single quote – this backquote character is usually on the top left of your keyboard on the tilde key. Debug1: identity file /home/user/.ssh/idrsa type 1 debug1: identity file /home/user/.ssh/idrsa-cert type -1 debug1: Offering RSA public key: /home/user/.ssh/idrsa In this example, the idrsa key is being used. What if you have more than one key pair? If you have more than one key, you'll need to add them all to ssh-agent.
For example, if you have an idrsa key in addition to a custom key, make sure you add both using ssh-add (as shown above). This will ensure that the 'Offering RSA public key' line above displays the correct key when connecting. Troubleshooting If you are not being automatically logged in, view the following article for possible solutions:. See also.
Contents. PuTTYgen download and install PuTTYgen is normally installed as part of the normal PuTTY.msi package installation. There is no need for a separate PuTTYgen download. For detailed installation instructions, see. Running PuTTYgen Go to Windows Start menu → All Programs → PuTTY→ PuTTYgen. Creating a new key pair for authentication To create a new key pair, select the type of key to generate from the bottom of the screen (using SSH-2 RSA with 2048 bit key size is good for most people; another good well-known alternative is ECDSA).
Then click Generate, and start moving the mouse within the Window. Putty uses mouse movements to collect randomness. The exact way you are going to move your mouse cannot be predicted by an external attacker. You may need to move the mouse for some time, depending on the size of your key. As you move it, the green progress bar should advance.
Once the progress bar becomes full, the actual key generation computation takes place. This may take from several seconds to several minutes. When complete, the public key should appear in the Window.
You can now specify a for the key. You should save at least the private key by clicking Save private key. It may be advisable to also save the public key, though it can be later regenerated by loading the private key (by clicking Load). We strongly recommended using a passphrase be for private key files intended for interactive use.
If keys are needed for automation (e.g., with, then they may be left without a passphrase. Installing the public key as an authorized key on a server With both and servers, access to an account is granted by adding the public key to a file on the server. To install the public key, Log into the server, edit the authorizedkeys file with your favorite editor, and cut-and-paste the public key output by the above command to the authorizedkeys file. Save the file.
Configure PuTTY to use your private key file (here keyfile.ppk). Then test if login works. Managing SSH keys In larger organizations, the number of SSH keys on servers and clients can easily grow to tens of thousands, in some cases to millions of keys. In large quantities, SSH keys can become a massive security risk and they can violate compliance requirements. In the worst case, they could be used to.
The can manage PuTTY keys in addition to OpenSSH and Tectia keys. It works with legacy keys on traditional servers as well as dynamic and keyless elastic environments in the cloud. Any larger organization should ensure they have proper provisioning and termination processes for SSH keys as part of their Identify and Access Management (IAM) practice.
Changing the passphase of a key It is recommended that all SSH keys be regenerated and changed periodically. The Universal SSH Key Manager can automate this. Just changing the passphrase is no substitute, but it is better than nothing. These instructions can also be used to add a passphrase to a key that was created without one. To change the passphrase, click on Load to load an existing key, then enter a new passphrase, and click Save private key to save the private key with the new passphrase. Be sure to properly destroy and wipe the old key file.
Creating a new file with a new passphrase will not help if the old file remains available. Videos illustrating use of PuTTYgen Using PuTTYgen to generate an SSH key.