Working with SSH keys

SSH keys are a way to identify trusted computers, without involving passwords. Most git servers choose SSH keys to authorize clients.

Check for SSH keys

check for existing SSH keys on your computer.

$ ls -al ~/.ssh

# Lists the files in your .ssh directory, if they exist

Check the directory listing to see if you already have a public SSH key. By default, the filenames of the public keys are one of the following:

• id_rsa.pub
• id_dsa.pub

Generate a new SSH key

1) Creates a new ssh key, using the provided email as a label

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "[email protected]"

2) We strongly suggest keeping the default settings as they are, so when you‘re prompted to "Enter a file in which to save the key", just press Enter to continue.

Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/you/.ssh/id_rsa): [Press enter]

3) We strongly recommend a very good, secure passphrase.

Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): [Type a passphrase]
Enter same passphrase again: [Type passphrase again]

4) After you enter a passphrase, review the fingerprint, or id, of your SSH key.

Add the New SSH Key to Server

Add the content of id_dsa.pub to the end of  sever’s authorized_keys

echo ‘the content of id_dsa.pub’ >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Configure SSH Client

Edit ssh configuration file ‘~/.ssh/config’.

Host servername
HostName 192.168.3.1
User Admin
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa
CompressionLevel 6

Now you can test the ssh connection

ssh servername