While Encrypting a File with a Password from the Command Line using OpenSSLis very useful in its own right, the real power of the OpenSSL library is itsability to support the use of public key cryptograph for encrypting orvalidating data in an unattended manner (where the password is not required toencrypt) is done with public keys.
SSH authentication keys are a way to provide authentication without sending a password to the server. Instead, you use a passphrase to unlock a private key on your computer, and this is matched with a public key placed on the server. Create an RSA key that is 2048 or 4096 bit in length, and use either your username or email address as the key comment. Working with non-default SSH key pair paths. If you used a non-default file path for your GitLab SSH key pair, you must configure your SSH client to find your GitLab SSH private key for connections to your GitLab server (perhaps gitlab.com). For OpenSSH clients this is configured in the /.ssh/config file. Creating an SSH key on Windows 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 command prompt, and run.
You can generate a public and private RSA key pair like this:
openssl genrsa -des3 -out private.pem 2048
Mar 09, 2020 To configure the SSH server to support key-based authentication, follow these steps: Log in to the server console as the bitnami user. Create a key pair, consisting of a public and private key, as shown below. Set a long passphrase when prompted. $ ssh-keygen Generating public/private rsa key pair. Jun 01, 2016 In this GitLab video tutorial, we push a repo into our project. Subscribe for more free tutorials Buy this series with an extra video!.
That generates a 2048-bit RSA key pair, encrypts them with a password you provideand writes them to a file. You need to next extract the public key file. You willuse this, for instance, on your web server to encrypt content so that it canonly be read with the private key.
This is a command that is
openssl rsa -in private.pem -outform PEM -pubout -out public.pem
The -pubout
flag is really important. Be sure to include it.
Next open the public.pem
and ensure that it starts with-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
. This is how you know that this file is thepublic key of the pair and not a private key.
To check the file from the command line you can use the less
command, like this:
less public.pem
If you distribute a large enough number of copies youmust also follow the conditions in section 3.You may also lend copies, under the same conditions statedabove, and you may publicly display copies. Both covers mustalso clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of thesecopies. However, you may accept compensation in exchange forcopies. If you publish printed copies of the Document numbering morethan 100, and the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts,you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly andlegibly, all these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the frontcover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Command that generates a gpg public private key pair 2017.
A previous version of the post gave this example in error.
openssl rsa -in private.pem -out private_unencrypted.pem -outform PEM
The error is that the -pubout
was dropped from the end of the command.That changes the meaning of the command from that of exporting the public keyto exporting the private key outside of its encrypted wrapper. Inspecting theoutput file, in this case private_unencrypted.pem
clearly shows that the keyis a RSA private key as it starts with -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
.
It is important to visually inspect you private and public key files to makesure that they are what you expect. OpenSSL will clearly explain the nature ofthe key block with a -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
or -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
.
You can use less to inspect each of your two files in turn:
less private.pem
to verify that it starts with a -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
less public.pem
to verify that it starts with a -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
The next section shows a full example of what each key file should look like.
The generated files are base64-encoded encryption keys in plain text format.If you select a password for your private key, its file will be encrypted withyour password. Be sure to remember this password or the key pair becomes useless.
Depending on the nature of the information you will protect, it’s important tokeep the private key backed up and secret. The public key can be distributedanywhere or embedded in your web application scripts, such as in your PHP,Ruby, or other scripts. Again, backup your keys!
Remember, if the key goes away the data encrypted to it is gone. Keeping aprinted copy of the key material in a sealed envelope in a bank safety depositbox is a good way to protect important keys against loss due to fire or harddrive failure.
If you, dear reader, were planning any funny business with the private key that I have just published here. Know that they were made especially for this series of blog posts. I do not use them for anything else.
Learn more about our services or drop us your email and we'll e-mail you back.