To generate SSH keys on a Linux or UNIX system, you can use the ssh-keygen
command, which is included with most distributions.
Here are the steps to generate SSH keys:
- Open a terminal or command prompt on your Linux or UNIX system.
- Type the following command to generate an SSH key pair:
ssh-keygen
This will start the key generation process and prompt you to enter a file name for the key pair.
- Press Enter to accept the default file name, or type a different name if you prefer.
- You will then be prompted to enter a passphrase for the key pair. A passphrase is like a password that is required to use the key. You can enter a passphrase, or leave it blank for an unencrypted key. (Ultram)
- Once you have entered the passphrase (or left it blank), the
ssh-keygen
command will generate the key pair and save it to the specified file. - Your public key will be saved to a file with the same name as your private key, but with the
.pub
extension. The public key is the one that you can share with others, so they can grant you access to their systems.
That’s it! You now have an SSH key pair that you can use to authenticate to remote systems. To use the key, you will need to copy the public key to the remote system and add it to the authorized keys list for your user account on that system. The exact steps for doing this may vary depending on the remote system and the method used to copy the public key.