Ssh Generate Public Key For User
The PuTTYgen program is part of PuTTY, an open source networking client for the Windows platform.
How to Generate a Public/Private Key Pair for Use With Solaris Secure Shell. Users must generate a public/private key pair when their site implements host-based authentication or user public-key authentication. For additional options, see the ssh-keygen(1) man page. To set up SSH key authentication for one of your server’s users, add your public key to a new line inside the user’s authorizedkeys file. This file is stored inside a directory named.ssh/ under the user’s home folder. A user’s authorizedkeys file can store more than. SSH keys are a way to identify trusted computers, without involving passwords. The steps below will walk you through generating an SSH key and adding the public key to the server. Step 1: Check for SSH Keys First, check for existing SSH keys on your computer. Open Git Bash, Cygwin, or Terminal, etc. Generating Keys. If you are going to connect to a remote host computer using public-key authentication, you will have to generate a key pair before connecting. Public-key authentication is based on the use of digital signatures. Each user creates a pair of key files. I reached SSH section. I made it as written, but when i logged out from root, i cant access root@IPADDRESS -p 30000 again! But i can access user@IPADDRESS -p 30000. So, the question is, how to set a public SSH key for root user?
Generating Your SSH Public Key. That being said, many Git servers authenticate using SSH public keys. In order to provide a public key, each user in your system must generate one if they don’t already have one. This process is similar across all operating systems. First, you should check to make sure you don’t already have a key.
- Download and install PuTTY or PuTTYgen.
To download PuTTY or PuTTYgen, go to http://www.putty.org/ and click the You can download PuTTY here link.
- Run the PuTTYgen program.
- Set the Type of key to generate option to SSH-2 RSA.
- In the Number of bits in a generated key box, enter 2048.
- Click Generate to generate a public/private key pair.
As the key is being generated, move the mouse around the blank area as directed.
- (Optional) Enter a passphrase for the private key in the Key passphrase box and reenter it in the Confirm passphrase box.
Note:
While a passphrase is not required, you should specify one as a security measure to protect the private key from unauthorized use. When you specify a passphrase, a user must enter the passphrase every time the private key is used.
- Click Save private key to save the private key to a file. To adhere to file-naming conventions, you should give the private key file an extension of
.ppk
(PuTTY private key).Lighting design software for mac. Note:
The.ppk
file extension indicates that the private key is in PuTTY's proprietary format. You must use a key of this format when using PuTTY as your SSH client. It cannot be used with other SSH client tools. Refer to the PuTTY documentation to convert a private key in this format to a different format. - Select all of the characters in the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file box.
Make sure you select all the characters, not just the ones you can see in the narrow window. If a scroll bar is next to the characters, you aren't seeing all the characters.
- Right-click somewhere in the selected text and select Copy from the menu.
- Open a text editor and paste the characters, just as you copied them. Start at the first character in the text editor, and do not insert any line breaks.
- Save the text file in the same folder where you saved the private key, using the
.pub
extension to indicate that the file contains a public key. - If you or others are going to use an SSH client that requires the OpenSSH format for private keys (such as the
ssh
utility on Linux), export the private key:- On the Conversions menu, choose Export OpenSSH key.
- Save the private key in OpenSSH format in the same folder where you saved the private key in
.ppk
format, using an extension such as.openssh
to indicate the file's content.
Introduction: OpenSSH is a free and open source client/server technology for secure remote login. It is an implementation of the SSH protocol. OpenSSH divided into sshd (server) and various client tools such as sftp, scp, ssh and more. One can do remote login with OpenSSH either using password or combination of private and public keys named as public key based authentication. It is an alternative security method for user passwords. This method is recommended on a VPS, cloud, dedicated or even home-based server or laptop. This page shows how to set up SSH keys on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS server.
Ubuntu 18.04 Setup SSH Public Key Authentication
The procedure to set up secure ssh keys on Ubuntu 18.04:
- Create the key pair using ssh-keygen command.
- Copy and install the public key using ssh-copy-id command.
- Add yourself to sudo admin account on Ubuntu 18.04 server.
- Disable the password login for root account on Ubuntu 18.04.
Sample set up for SSH Keys on Ubuntu 18.04
Where,
- 202.54.1.55 – You store your public key on the remote hosts and you have an accounts on this Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS server.
- Linux/macbook laptop – Your private key stays on the desktop/laptop/computer (or local server) you use to connect to 202.54.1.55 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 202.54.1.55 and client names with your actual setup. Enough talk, let’s set up public key authentication on Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS.
How to create the RSA/ed25519 key pair on your local desktop/laptop
Open the Terminal and type following commands if .ssh directory does not exists:$ mkdir -p $HOME/.ssh
$ chmod 0700 $HOME/.ssh
Next generate a key pair for the protocol, run:$ ssh-keygen
OR$ ssh-keygen -t rsa 4096 -C 'My key for Linode server'
These days ED25519 keys are favored over RSA keys when backward compatibility is not needed:$ ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C 'My key for Linux server # 42'
How to install the public key in Ubuntu 18.04 remote server
The syntax is as follows:ssh-copy-id your-user-name@your-ubuntu-server-name
ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/file.pub your-user-name@your-ubuntu-server-name
For example:## for RSA KEY ##
ssh-copy-id -i $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub user@202.54.1.55
## for ED25519 KEY ##
ssh-copy-id -i $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub user@202.54.1.55
## install SSH KEY for root user ##
ssh-copy-id -i $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub root@202.54.1.55
I am going to install ssh key for a user named vivek (type command on your laptop/desktop where you generated RSA/ed25519 keys):$ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub vivek@202.54.1.55
Test it
Now try logging into the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS server, with ssh command from your client computer/laptop using ssh keys:$ ssh your-user@your-server-name-here
$ ssh vivek@202.54.1.55
What are ssh-agent and ssh-add, and how do I use them on Ubuntu 18.04?
To get rid of a passphrase for the current session, add a passphrase to ssh-agent (see ssh-agent command for more info) 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:$ eval $(ssh-agent)
Type the ssh-add command to prompt the user for a private key passphrase and adds it to the list maintained by ssh-agent command:$ ssh-add
Enter your private key passphrase. Now try again to log into vivek@202.54.1.55 and you will NOT be prompted for a password:$ ssh vivek@202.54.1.55
How to disable the password based login on a Ubuntu 18.04 server
Login to your server, type:## client commands ##
$ eval $(ssh-agent)
$ ssh-add
$ ssh vivek@202.54.1.55
Now login as root user:$ sudo -i
OR$ su -i
Edit sshd_config file:# vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
OR# nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config
Find PermitRootLogin and set it as follows:PermitRootLogin no
Save and close the file. I am going to add a user named vivek to sudoers group on Ubuntu 18.04 server so that we can run sysadmin tasks:# adduser vivek sudo
Restart/reload the sshd service:# systemctl reload ssh
You can exit from all session and test it as follows:$ ssh vivek@202.54.1.55
## become root on server for sysadmin task ##
$ sudo -i
How do I add or replace a passphrase for an existing private key?
To to change your SSH passphrase type the following command:$ ssh-keygen -p
How do I backup my existing private/public SSH keys
Just copy files to your backup server or external USB pen/hard drive:
How do I protect my ssh keys?
Generate Public Key Ssh
- Always use a strong passphrase.
- Do not share your private keys anywhere online or store in insecure cloud storage or gitlab/github servers.
- Restrict privileges of the account.
Symmetric Key
Tip: Create and setup an OpenSSH config file to create shortcuts for servers
See how to create and use an OpenSSH ssh_config file for more info.
Ssh Generate Public Key For User Portal
How do I secure my OpenSSH server?
See “OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices” for more info.
Conclusion
You learned how to create and install ssh keys for SSH key-based authentication for Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS server. See OpenSSH server documents here and here for more info.
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