ssh/scp used keyless....more secure

[Net Llama!]

On 08/27/2005 11:10 AM, Dr. Scott S. Jones wrote:
> Dear List:
> 
> I use ssh and scp on a regular basis. I know I can create keys for using
> these more securely. And i am sure the topic has been raised and discussed
> before. 
> 
> Could someone point me to a good understandabl resources on setting up keys,
> and the challenge/response mechanisms to allow me to ssh and scp to home and
> back from work, without sending my password open across the net.

I don't kow of any resources, but setting this up is fairly simple.

On your client side box, you can generate your ssh keys with the 
following command:
ssh-keygen -t dsa

just hit enter for the defaults to all the questions.  Once you're done, 
you'll have created two files inside ~/.ssh:
id_dsa & id_dsa.pub

On the server that you want to ssh/scp to without a password, you should 
have a ~/.ssh directory for your user as well.  Look in that directory. 
  If you don't already have an authorized_keys file, then all you need 
to do is scp ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub from your local client box to the server 
and rename it ~/.ssh/authorized_keys .  At this point, you're done, and 
you should be able to ssh/scp to that server without passwords.

If you already do have an ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server for your 
user, then you need to append your ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub to the end of 
~/.ssh/authorized_keys.  So scp ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub to the server, and 
then this should do the trick:
cat id_dsa.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

At this point, you're done, and you should be able to ssh/scp to that 
server without passwords.


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
L. Friedman                       	       netllama at linux-sxs.org
LlamaLand		 		http://netllama.linux-sxs.org

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