Contents
|
- Creating an SSH key on Linux & macOS 1. Check for existing SSH keys. You should check for existing SSH keys on your local computer. You can use an existing SSH key with Bitbucket Server if you want, in which case you can go straight to either SSH user keys for personal use or SSH access keys for system use. Open a terminal and run the following.
- Aug 07, 2019 Create the ssh key pair using ssh-keygen command. Copy and install the public ssh key using ssh-copy-id command on a Linux or Unix server. Add yourself to sudo or wheel group admin account. Disable the password login for root account.
SSH keys offer a highly secure manner of logging into a server with SSH as against mere dependence on a password. While a password stands the risk of being finally cracked, SSH keys are rather impossible to decipher using brute force.
Parent page: Internet and Networking >> SSH
Public key authentication is more secure than password authentication. This is particularly important if the computer is visible on the internet. If you don't think it's important, try logging the login attempts you get for the next week. My computer - a perfectly ordinary desktop PC - had over 4,000 attempts to guess my password and almost 2,500 break-in attempts in the last week alone.
With public key authentication, the authenticating entity has a public key and a private key. Each key is a large number with special mathematical properties. The private key is kept on the computer you log in from, while the public key is stored on the .ssh/authorized_keys file on all the computers you want to log in to. When you log in to a computer, the SSH server uses the public key to 'lock' messages in a way that can only be 'unlocked' by your private key - this means that even the most resourceful attacker can't snoop on, or interfere with, your session. As an extra security measure, most SSH programs store the private key in a passphrase-protected format, so that if your computer is stolen or broken in to, you should have enough time to disable your old public key before they break the passphrase and start using your key. Wikipedia has a more detailed explanation of how keys work.
Public key authentication is a much better solution than passwords for most people. In fact, if you don't mind leaving a private key unprotected on your hard disk, you can even use keys to do secure automatic log-ins - as part of a network backup, for example. Different SSH programs generate public keys in different ways, but they all generate public keys in a similar format:
Key-based authentication is the most secure of several modes of authentication usable with OpenSSH, such as plain password and Kerberos tickets. Key-based authentication has several advantages over password authentication, for example the key values are significantly more difficult to brute-force, or guess than plain passwords, provided an ample key length. Other authentication methods are only used in very specific situations.
SSH can use either 'RSA' (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) or 'DSA' ('Digital Signature Algorithm') keys. Both of these were considered state-of-the-art algorithms when SSH was invented, but DSA has come to be seen as less secure in recent years. RSA is the only recommended choice for new keys, so this guide uses 'RSA key' and 'SSH key' interchangeably.
Key-based authentication uses two keys, one 'public' key that anyone is allowed to see, and another 'private' key that only the owner is allowed to see. To securely communicate using key-based authentication, one needs to create a key pair, securely store the private key on the computer one wants to log in from, and store the public key on the computer one wants to log in to.
Using key based logins with ssh is generally considered more secure than using plain password logins. This section of the guide will explain the process of generating a set of public/private RSA keys, and using them for logging into your Ubuntu computer(s) via OpenSSH.
The first step involves creating a set of RSA keys for use in authentication.
This should be done on the client.
To create your public and private SSH keys on the command-line:
You will be prompted for a location to save the keys, and a passphrase for the keys. This passphrase will protect your private key while it's stored on the hard drive:
Your public key is now available as .ssh/id_rsa.pub in your home folder.
Congratulations! You now have a set of keys. Now it's time to make your systems allow you to login with them
Choosing a good passphrase
You need to change all your locks if your RSA key is stolen. Otherwise the thief could impersonate you wherever you authenticate with that key.
An SSH key passphrase is a secondary form of security that gives you a little time when your keys are stolen. If your RSA key has a strong passphrase, it might take your attacker a few hours to guess by brute force. That extra time should be enough to log in to any computers you have an account on, delete your old key from the .ssh/authorized_keys file, and add a new key.
Your SSH key passphrase is only used to protect your private key from thieves. It's never transmitted over the Internet, and the strength of your key has nothing to do with the strength of your passphrase.
The decision to protect your key with a passphrase involves convenience x security. Note that if you protect your key with a passphrase, then when you type the passphrase to unlock it, your local computer will generally leave the key unlocked for a time. So if you use the key multiple times without logging out of your local account in the meantime, you will probably only have to type the passphrase once.
If you do adopt a passphrase, pick a strong one and store it securely in a password manager. You may also write it down on a piece of paper and keep it in a secure place. If you choose not to protect the key with a passphrase, then just press the return when ssh-keygen asks.
Key Encryption Level
Note: The default is a 2048 bit key. You can increase this to 4096 bits with the -b flag (Increasing the bits makes it harder to crack the key by brute force methods).
Password Authentication
The main problem with public key authentication is that you need a secure way of getting the public key onto a computer before you can log in with it. If you will only ever use an SSH key to log in to your own computer from a few other computers (such as logging in to your PC from your laptop), you should copy your SSH keys over on a memory stick, and disable password authentication altogether. If you would like to log in from other computers from time to time (such as a friend's PC), make sure you have a strong password.
The key you need to transfer to the host is the public one. If you can log in to a computer over SSH using a password, you can transfer your RSA key by doing the following from your own computer:
Where <username> and <host> should be replaced by your username and the name of the computer you're transferring your key to.
Due to this bug, you cannot specify a port other than the standard port 22. You can work around this by issuing the command like this: ssh-copy-id '<username>@<host> -p <port_nr>'. If you are using the standard port 22, you can ignore this tip.
Another alternative is to copy the public key file to the server and concatenate it onto the authorized_keys file manually. It is wise to back that up first:
You can make sure this worked by doing:
You should be prompted for the passphrase for your key:
Enter passphrase for key '/home/<user>/.ssh/id_rsa': |
Enter your passphrase, and provided host is configured to allow key-based logins, you should then be logged in as usual.
Encrypted Home Directory
If you have an encrypted home directory, SSH cannot access your authorized_keys file because it is inside your encrypted home directory and won't be available until after you are authenticated. Therefore, SSH will default to password authentication.
To solve this, create a folder outside your home named /etc/ssh/<username> (replace '<username>' with your actual username). This directory should have 755 permissions and be owned by the user. Move the authorized_keys file into it. The authorized_keys file should have 644 permissions and be owned by the user.
Then edit your /etc/ssh/sshd_config and add:
Finally, restart ssh with:
The next time you connect with SSH you should not have to enter your password.
username@host's password:
If you are not prompted for the passphrase, and instead get just the
prompt as usual with password logins, then read on. There are a few things which could prevent this from working as easily as demonstrated above. On default Ubuntu installs however, the above examples should work. If not, then check the following condition, as it is the most frequent cause:
On the host computer, ensure that the /etc/ssh/sshd_config contains the following lines, and that they are uncommented;
If not, add them, or uncomment them, restart OpenSSH, and try logging in again. If you get the passphrase prompt now, then congratulations, you're logging in with a key!
Permission denied (publickey)
If you're sure you've correctly configured sshd_config, copied your ID, and have your private key in the .ssh directory, and still getting this error:
Permission denied (publickey). |
Chances are, your /home/<user> or ~/.ssh/authorized_keys permissions are too open by OpenSSH standards. You can get rid of this problem by issuing the following commands:
Error: Agent admitted failure to sign using the key.
This error occurs when the ssh-agent on the client is not yet managing the key. Issue the following commands to fix:
Forza Horizon 3 License Activation Key gives you the opportunity to play in the full game version. Forza Horizon 3 License is a fully functional program, EASY TO USE!You don’t have to download any software or crack. Just generate your key online and you are good to go. Forza Horizon 3 Keygen is here and it is FREE and 100% working and legit. Forza horizon 3 cd key generator.
This command should be entered after you have copied your public key to the host computer.
Debugging and sorting out further problems
The permissions of files and folders is crucial to this working. You can get debugging information from both the client and server.
if you think you have set it up correctly , yet still get asked for the password, try starting the server with debugging output to the terminal.
To connect and send information to the client terminal
No matter how your public key was generated, you can add it to your Ubuntu system by opening the file .ssh/authorized_keys in your favourite text editor and adding the key to the bottom of the file. You can also limit the SSH features that the key can use, such as disallowing port-forwarding or only allowing a specific command to be run. This is done by adding 'options' before the SSH key, on the same line in the authorized_keys file. For example, if you maintain a CVS repository, you could add a line like this:
When the user with the specified key logged in, the server would automatically run /usr/bin/cvs server, ignoring any requests from the client to run another command such as a shell. For more information, see the sshd man page. /755
Introduction
Establishing an SSH (Secure Shell) connection is essential to log in and effectively manage a remote server. Encrypted keys are a set of access credentials used to establish a secure connection.
This guide will walk you how to generate SSH keys on Ubuntu 18.04. We will also cover setting up SSH key-based authentication to connect to a remote server without requiring a password.
- A server running Ubuntu 18.04
- A user account with sudo privileges
- Access to a terminal window / command line (Ctrl-Alt-T)
If you are already running an Ubuntu 18.04 server, you can skip this step. If you are configuring your server for the first time, you may not have SSH installed.
Ubuntu Add Ssh Key
1. Start by installing the tasksel package:
The system will first ask for confirmation before proceeding:
2. Next, use tasksel to install the ssh-server:
3. Load the SSH server service, and set it to launch at boot:
On your client system – the one you’re using to connect to the server – you need to create a pair of key codes.
To generate a pair of SSH key codes, enter the commands:
This will create a hidden directory to store your SSH keys, and modify the permissions for that directory. The ssh-keygen command creates a 2048-bit RSA key pair.
For extra security, use RSA4096:
If you’ve already generated a key pair, this will prompt to overwrite them, and those old keys will not work anymore.
The system will ask you to create a passphrase as an added layer of security. Input a memorable passphrase, and press Enter.
This process creates two keys. One is a public key, which you can hand out to anyone – in this case, you’ll save it to the server. The other one is a private key, which you will need to keep secure. The secure private key ensures that you are the only person who can encrypt the data that is decrypted by the public key.
Step 2- Copy Public Key to the Ubuntu Server
First, get the IP address of the Ubuntu server you want to connect to.
In a terminal window, enter:
The system’s IP address is listed in the second entry:
On the client system, use the ssh-copy-id command to copy the identity information to the Ubuntu server:
Replace server_IP with the actual IP address of your server.
If this is the first time you’re connecting to the server, you may see a message that the authenticity of the host cannot be established:
Type yes and press Enter.
The system will check your client system for the id_rsa.pub key that was previously generated. Then it will prompt you to enter the password for the server user account. Type it in (the system won’t display the password), and press Enter.
The system will copy the contents of the ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub from the client system into the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys directory of the server system.
The system should display:
If your system does not have the ssh-copy-id command, you can copy the key manually over the SSH.
Use the following command:
To log in to a remote server, input the command:
The system should not ask for a password as it is negotiating a secure connection using the SSH keys. If you used a security passphrase, you would be prompted to enter it. After you do so, you are logged in.
If this is the first time you’ve logged into the server, you may see a message similar to the one in part two. It will ask if you are sure you want to connect – type yes and press Enter.
Step 4- Disable Password Authentication
This step creates an added layer of security. If you’re the only person logging into the server, you can disable the password. The server will only accept a login with your private key to match the stored public key.
Edit the sshd_config file:
Search the file and find the PasswordAuthentication option.
Edit the file and change the value to no:
Generate Ssh Key Ubuntu For Github
Save the file and exit, then restart the SSH service:
Verify that SSH is still working, before ending the session:
If everything works, you can close out and resume work normally.
By following the instructions in this tutorial, you have setup SSH-key-based authentication on an Ubuntu 18.04 server.
The connection is now highly secure as it uses a set of unique, encrypted SSH keys.
Next you should also read
Learn how to set up SSH key authentication on CentOS to safely communicate with remote servers. Create the…
When establishing a remote connection between a client and a server, a primary concern is ensuring a secure…
Nginx is an open-source server utility designed to work as a reverse proxy, intercepting client requests and…
In this tutorial, Find out How To Use SSH to Connect to a Remote Server in Linux or Windows. Get started with…