Create an SSH key pair. Use the ssh-keygen command to generate SSH public and private key files. By default, these files are created in the /.ssh directory. You can specify a different location, and an optional password (passphrase) to access the private key file. If an SSH key pair with the same name exists in the given location, those files are overwritten. Oct 14, 2019  Generating ed25519 SSH Key. I'm hoping to reinstall my MacBook Pro 15' 2017 with a fresh macOS Catalina sometime soon, and part of preparations is testing my install methods (hello, brew!) and configuration files migration. Today I decided to setup a new SSH keypair. What is ed25519? Ed25519 is a relatively new cryptography solution implementing Edwards-curve Digital Signature.

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.

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:

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.

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Related

What Is SSH?

One essential tool to master as a system administrator is SSH.

SSH, or Secure Shell, is a protocol used to securely log onto remote systems. It is the most common way to access remote Linux and Unix-like servers.

In this guide, we will discuss how to use SSH to connect to a remote system.

Basic Syntax

The tool on Linux for connecting to a remote system using SSH is called, unsurprisingly, ssh.

The most basic form of the command is:

The remote_host in this example is the IP address or domain name that you are trying to connect to.

This command assumes that your username on the remote system is the same as your username on your local system.

If your username is different on the remote system, you can specify it by using this syntax:

Once you have connected to the server, you will probably be asked to verify your identity by providing a password.

Later, we will cover how to generate keys to use instead of passwords.

To exit back into your local session, simply type:

How Does SSH Work?

SSH works by connecting a client program to an ssh server.

In the above commands, ssh is the client program. The ssh server is already running on the remote_host that we specified.

In your Droplet, the sshd server should already be running. If this is not the case, click on the Console Access button from your Droplet page:

You will be presented with a login screen. Log in with your credentials.

The process needed to start an ssh server depends on the distribution of Linux that you are using.

On Ubuntu, you can start the ssh server on the Droplet by typing:

On Ubuntu 16.04 and Debian Jessie, you can use systemctl, the systemd command for managing services:

That should start the sshd server and you can then log in remotely.

How To Configure SSH

When you change the configuration of SSH, you are changing the settings of the sshd server.

In Ubuntu, the main sshd configuration file is located at /etc/ssh/sshd_config.

Back up the current version of this file before editing:

Open it with a text editor:

You will want to leave most of the options in this file alone. However, there are a few you may want to take a look at:

The port declaration specifies which port the sshd server will listen on for connections. By default, this is 22. You should probably leave this setting alone, unless you have specific reasons to do otherwise. If you do change your port, we will show you how to connect to the new port later on.

The host keys declarations specify where to look for global host keys. We will discuss what a host key is later.

These two items indicate the level of logging that should occur.

If you are having difficulties with SSH, increasing the amount of logging may be a good way to discover what the issue is.

These parameters specify some of the login information.

LoginGraceTime specifies how many seconds to keep the connection alive without successfully logging in.

It may be a good idea to set this time just a little bit higher than the amount of time it takes you to log in normally.

PermitRootLogin selects whether root is allowed to log in.

In most cases, this should be changed to “no” when you have created user account that has access to elevated privileges (through su or sudo) and can log in through ssh.

strictModes is a safety guard that will refuse a login attempt if the authentication files are readable by everyone.

This prevents login attempts when the configuration files are not secure.

These parameters configure an ability called X11 Forwarding. This allows you to view a remote system’s graphical user interface (GUI) on the local system.

This option must be enabled on the server and given with the SSH client during connection with the -X option.

After making your changes, save and close the file by typing CTRL-X and Y, followed by ENTER.

If you changed any settings in /etc/ssh/sshd_config, make sure you restart your sshd server to implement your modifications:

Or, on systemd systems such as Ubuntu 16.04 or Debian Jessie:

You should thoroughly test your changes to ensure that they operate in the way you expect.

It may be a good idea to have a few sessions active when you are making changes. This will allow you to revert the configuration if necessary.

If you run into problems, remember that you can log in through the Console link on your Droplet page.

How To Log Into SSH with Keys

While it is helpful to be able to log in to a remote system using passwords, it’s a much better idea to set up key-based authentication.

How Does Key-based Authentication Work?

Key-based authentication works by creating a pair of keys: a private key and a public key.

The private key is located on the client machine and is secured and kept secret.

The public key can be given to anyone or placed on any server you wish to access.

When you attempt to connect using a key-pair, the server will use the public key to create a message for the client computer that can only be read with the private key.

The client computer then sends the appropriate response back to the server and the server will know that the client is legitimate.

This entire process is done in the background automatically after you set up keys.

How To Create SSH Keys

Dawn of war ii cd key generator. SSH keys should be generated on the computer you wish to log in from. This is usually your local computer.

Enter the following into the command line:

Press enter to accept the defaults. Your keys will be created at ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub and ~/.ssh/id_rsa.

Change into the .ssh directory by typing:

Look at the permissions of the files:

As you can see, the id_rsa file is readable and writable only to the owner. This is how it should be to keep it secret.

The id_rsa.pub file, however, can be shared and has permissions appropriate for this activity.

How To Transfer Your Public Key to the Server

You can copy the public key to the remote server by issuing this command:

This will start an SSH session, which you will need to authenticate with your password.

After you enter your password, it will copy your public key to the server’s authorized keys file, which will allow you to log in without the password next time.

Client-Side Options

There are a number of optional flags that you can select when connecting through SSH.

Generate Ssh Key Linux Ubuntu

Some of these may be necessary to match the settings in the remote host’s sshd configuration.

For instance, if you changed the port number in your sshd configuration, you will need to match that port on the client-side by typing:

If you only wish to execute a single command on a remote system, you can specify it after the host like so:

You will connect to the remote machine, authenticate, and the command will be executed.

As we said before, if X11 forwarding is enabled on both computers, you can access that functionality by typing:

Providing you have the appropriate tools on your computer, GUI programs that you use on the remote system will now open their window on your local system.

Disabling Password Authentication

If you have created SSH keys, you can enhance your server’s security by disabling password-only authentication. Apart from the console, the only way to log into your server will be through the private key that pairs with the public key you have installed on the server.

Note: Before you proceed with this step, be sure you have installed a public key to your server. Otherwise, you will be locked out!

As root or a non-root user with sudo privileges, open the sshd configuration file:

Locate the line that reads Password Authentication, and uncomment it by removing the leading #. You can then change its value to “no”:

Generate Ssh Key Terminal Ubuntu 10

Two more settings that should not need to be modified (provided you have not modified this file before) are PubkeyAuthentication and ChallengeResponseAuthentication. They are set by default, and should read as follows:

After making your changes, save and close the file.

You can now reload the SSH daemon:

Password authentication should now be disabled, and your server should be accessible only through SSH key authentication.

Conclusion

Learning your way around SSH is a worthwhile pursuit, if only because it is such a common activity.

As you utilize the various options, you will discover more advanced functionality that can make your life easier. SSH has remained popular because it is secure, light-weight, and useful in diverse situations.