Generating A Ssh Key Pair

| 08-05-2021
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You can generate an SSH key pair directly in cPanel, or you can generate the keys yourself and just upload the public one in cPanel to use with your hosting account. When generating SSH keys yourself under Linux, you can use the ssh-keygen command. To do so follow these steps: Open up the Terminal; Type in the following command. Sep 06, 2019  Generating a key pair and propagating the public key. Generating your key pair and propagating your public key is simpler than it sounds. Let’s walk through it. Generating the key. The minimum effort to generate a key pair involves running the ssh-keygen command, and choosing the defaults at all the prompts: $ ssh-keygen Generating public/private rsa key pair.

Generating A Ssh Key Pair

Generate Ssh Key Pair Windows

To access your instances using SSH, generate an SSH key pair, associate the public key with your instances, and use the private key to log in to the instances using SSH.

  • Follow the instructions to generate your SSH key pair. Adding your SSH public key to GitLab. To add the SSH public key to GitLab, see Adding an SSH key to your GitLab account. Note: Once you add a key, you cannot edit it. If it didn’t paste properly, it will not work, and you will need to remove the key from GitLab and try adding it again.
  • In case you travel and can’t carry your laptop with you, just keep your private key on a USB stick and attach it to your physical keychain. Your server will be much safer this way. Generate Public/Private SSH Key Pair. Open Command Prompt from the Start Menu and type.

Note:

Generating An Ssh Key Github

You can’t use SSH keys to log in to a Windows instance. To log in to your Windows instance using RDP, see Accessing a Windows Instance Using RDP.

Caution:

Keep your SSH keys secure. Lay down policies to ensure that the keys aren’t lost or compromised when employees leave the organization or move to other departments. If you lose your private key, then you can’t access your instances. For business continuity, ensure that the SSH keys of at least two IT system administrators are added to your instances.

Topics

Generating an SSH Key Pair on UNIX and UNIX-Like Systems

Use the following procedure to generate an SSH key pair on UNIX and UNIX-like systems:

  1. Run the ssh-keygen command.

    You can use the -t option to specify the type of key to create.

    For example, to create an RSA key, run:

    You can use the -t option to specify the length (bit size) of the key, as shown in the following example:

  2. The command prompts you to enter the path to the file in which you want to save the key.

    A default path and file name are suggested in parentheses. For example: /home/user_name/.ssh/id_rsa. To accept the default path and file name, press Enter. Otherwise, enter the required path and file name, and then press Enter.

  3. The command prompts you to enter a passphrase.

    The passphrase is not mandatory if you want to log in to an instance created using an Oracle-provided image. However, it is recommended that you specify a passphrase to protect your private key against unauthorized use.

    Note:

    With some images provided on Oracle Marketplace, the use of a passphrase might be mandatory.

  4. When prompted, enter the passphrase again to confirm it.

The command generates an SSH key pair consisting of a public key and a private key, and saves them in the specified path. The file name of the public key is created automatically by appending .pub to the name of the private key file. For example, if the file name of the SSH private key is id_rsa, the file name of the public key would be id_rsa.pub.

Make a note of the path and file names of the private and public keys. When you create an instance, you must specify the SSH public key value. When you log in to an instance, you must provide the path to the corresponding SSH private key and you must enter the passphrase when prompted.

Generating an SSH Key Pair on Windows

You can generate an SSH key pair on a Microsoft Windows machine by using an application such as PuTTY. See the tutorial, Creating SSH Keys for Use with Oracle Cloud Services.

Several tools exist to generate SSH public/private key pairs. The following sections show how to generate an SSH key pair on UNIX, UNIX-like and Windows platforms.

Generating an SSH Key Pair on UNIX and UNIX-Like Platforms Using the ssh-keygen Utility

UNIX and UNIX-like platforms (including Solaris and Linux) include the ssh-keygen utility to generate SSH key pairs.

To generate an SSH key pair on UNIX and UNIX-like platforms using the ssh-keygen utility:
  1. Navigate to your home directory:
  2. Run the ssh-keygen utility, providing as filename your choice of file name for the private key:

    The ssh-keygen utility prompts you for a passphrase for the private key.

  3. Enter a passphrase for the private key, or press Enter to create a private key without a passphrase:

    Note:

    While a passphrase is not required, you should specify one as a security measure to protect the private key from unauthorized use. When you specify a passphrase, a user must enter the passphrase every time the private key is used.

    The ssh-keygen utility prompts you to enter the passphrase again.

  4. Enter the passphrase again, or press Enter again to continue creating a private key without a passphrase:
  5. The ssh-keygen utility displays a message indicating that the private key has been saved as filename and the public key has been saved as filename.pub. It also displays information about the key fingerprint and randomart image.

Generating an SSH Key Pair on Windows Using the PuTTYgen Program

The PuTTYgen program is part of PuTTY, an open source networking client for the Windows platform.

To generate an SSH key pair on Windows using the PuTTYgen program:
  1. Download and install PuTTY or PuTTYgen.

    To download PuTTY or PuTTYgen, go to http://www.putty.org/ and click the You can download PuTTY here link.

  2. Run the PuTTYgen program.
  3. Set the Type of key to generate option to SSH-2 RSA.
  4. In the Number of bits in a generated key box, enter 2048.
  5. Click Generate to generate a public/private key pair.

    As the key is being generated, move the mouse around the blank area as directed.

  6. (Optional) Enter a passphrase for the private key in the Key passphrase box and reenter it in the Confirm passphrase box.

    Note:

    While a passphrase is not required, you should specify one as a security measure to protect the private key from unauthorized use. When you specify a passphrase, a user must enter the passphrase every time the private key is used.

  7. Click Save private key to save the private key to a file. To adhere to file-naming conventions, you should give the private key file an extension of .ppk (PuTTY private key).

    Note:

    The .ppk file extension indicates that the private key is in PuTTY's proprietary format. You must use a key of this format when using PuTTY as your SSH client. It cannot be used with other SSH client tools. Refer to the PuTTY documentation to convert a private key in this format to a different format.
  8. Select all of the characters in the Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file box.

    Make sure you select all the characters, not just the ones you can see in the narrow window. If a scroll bar is next to the characters, you aren't seeing all the characters.

  9. Right-click somewhere in the selected text and select Copy from the menu.
  10. Open a text editor and paste the characters, just as you copied them. Start at the first character in the text editor, and do not insert any line breaks.
  11. Save the text file in the same folder where you saved the private key, using the .pub extension to indicate that the file contains a public key.
  12. If you or others are going to use an SSH client that requires the OpenSSH format for private keys (such as the ssh utility on Linux), export the private key:
    1. On the Conversions menu, choose Export OpenSSH key.
    2. Save the private key in OpenSSH format in the same folder where you saved the private key in .ppk format, using an extension such as .openssh to indicate the file's content.