SSH keys provide secure authentication and access to remote machines and as a result can allow secure logins without passwords. As such, this is a secure method to speed up logging in to frequently-accessed remote machines.
Requirements
- access to the remote host to create the SSH keys for (A staff/research account if research and staff Linux server or a student account if student Linux server)
- Virtual Private Network (VPN) must be running in order to attemp to connect from an off campus location
Procedure
Instructions for a Mac/Linux local machine
- launch Terminal or Command Line
- generate the keys:
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ssh-keygen -t rsa
- hit enter to save the key in the default ~/.ssh/id_rsa
- hit enter for no passphrase
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- secure the keys:
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chmod -R go= ~/.ssh
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- copy the public key to the remote account home folder:
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scp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub username@remoteserver:
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switch to Terminal or Command Line on the remote machine
- create the directory to store the public key:
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mkdir ~/.ssh
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- append the public key to the appropriate file:
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cat ~/id_rsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
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- remove the public key from home folder:
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rm ~/id_rsa.pub
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- secure the directory:
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chmod -R go= ~/.ssh
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- test secure authentication to the remote machine; it should no longer require a password
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ssh username@remoteserver
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