Generating local SSH keys
Generate Keys on Linux and Mac
Run the ssh-keygen command in the terminal and answer the questions when prompted. The defaults are acceptable for most use cases.
The generated keys should now be located in your home directory ~/.ssh/
- You’ll find the private key in the ~/.ssh/id_rsa file.
- You’ll find the public key in the ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub file.
Copy the public key into the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on your server, using the following commands. Substitute your own SSH user and host names:
scp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub squire@example.com:/home/user/.ssh/uploaded_key.pub
ssh squire@example.com "echo `cat ~/.ssh/uploaded+key.pub` >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"
You can now log in to your server using your public key.
Important
Cloud 66 doesn't currently support password protected keys, so please ensure your key is not passworded.
Generate Keys on Windows
If you’re using PuTTY in Windows for SSH services, you can still use SSH keys. PuTTY can generate keys using the puttygen program, download PuTTY.
Connect to your server using your key
Simply ensure that your public key contents are included in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the target server. Then you should be able to connect with:
ssh {server user}@{server address}
If you are using a non-standard key name or location, then you can connect to your server using
ssh -i {your private key location} {server user}@{server address}
Important
In both cases above you should not be asked to provide your password. Once you are happy that you can connect to your server with your key, best practice would be to disable access to your server via username/password.
