Oct 05, 2007 In this post I will walk you through generating RSA and DSA keys using ssh-keygen. Public key authentication for SSH sessions are far superior to any password authentication and provide much higher security. Ssh-keygen is the basic way for generating keys for such kind of authentication. I will also explain how to maintain those keys. Below is the method to generate SSH private/public key pair using the ssh-keygen command. Step 1: Open Terminal and Run this commands to check you do not have public key saved on your system. $ cd /.ssh $ ls -l. If the directory or file already exist, run following command to take backup and avoid overwrite $ mkdir keybackup $ mv idrsa. key. Oct 24, 2018 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. I need to do the SSH key audit for GitHub, but I am not sure how do find my RSA key fingerprint. I originally followed a guide to generate an SSH key on Linux. What is the command I need to enter to. Dec 18, 2019 We will also show you how to set up an SSH key-based authentication and connect to your remote Linux servers without entering a password. Creating SSH keys on Ubuntu # Before generating a new SSH key pair first, check for existing SSH keys on your Ubuntu client machine. You can do that by running the following ls command: ls -l /.ssh/id.pub.
I am a new Ubuntu 18.04 LTS user and I would like to setup ssh public key authentication. How do I set up ssh keys based authentication on Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS server? How do I set up SSH keys on an Ubuntu Linux 18.04 LTS server? In Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, how do I set up public key authentication?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.
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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:
Next generate a key pair for the protocol, run:
OR
These days ED25519 keys are favored over RSA keys when backward compatibility is not needed:
$ 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:
For example:
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 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 [email protected]
## for ED25519 KEY ##
ssh-copy-id -i $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub [email protected]
## install SSH KEY for root user ##
ssh-copy-id -i $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub [email protected]
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 [email protected]
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 [email protected]
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:
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:
$ 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 [email protected] and you will NOT be prompted for a password:
$ ssh [email protected]
How to disable the password based login on a Ubuntu 18.04 server
Login to your server, type:
Now login as root user:
OR
Edit sshd_config file:
OR
Find PermitRootLogin and set it as follows:
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:
Restart/reload the sshd service:
You can exit from all session and test it as follows:
## client commands ##
$ eval $(ssh-agent)
$ ssh-add
$ ssh [email protected]
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 [email protected]
## become root on server for sysadmin task ##
$ sudo -i
Generate Id_rsa Key Ubuntu 10
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?
- 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.
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.
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.
Generate Id_rsa Key Ubuntu Pdf
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