How to generate ssh key mac os

Manually generating your SSH key in macOS

You generate an SSH key through macOS by using the Terminal application. Once you upload a valid public SSH key, the Triton Compute Service uses SmartLogin to copy the public key to any new SmartMachine you provision.

Joyent recommends RSA keys because the node-manta CLI programs work with RSA keys both locally and with the ssh agent. DSA keys will work only if the private key is on the same system as the CLI, and not password-protected.

About Terminal

Terminal is the terminal emulator which provides a text-based command line interface to the Unix shell of macOS.

To open the macOS Terminal, follow these steps:

1. In Finder, choose Utilities from the Applications folder.
2. Find Terminal in the Utilities listw.
3. Open Terminal.

The Terminal window opens with the commandline prompt displaying the name of your machine and your username.

Generating an SSH key

An SSH key consists of a pair of files. One is the private key, which should never be shared with anyone. The other is the public key. The other file is a public key which allows you to log into the containers and VMs you provision. When you generate the keys, you will use ssh-keygen to store the keys in a safe location so you can bypass the login prompt when connecting to your instances.

To generate SSH keys in macOS, follow these steps:

Enter the following command in the Terminal window.

This starts the key generation process. When you execute this command, the ssh-keygen utility prompts you to indicate where to store the key.

Press the ENTER key to accept the default location. The ssh-keygen utility prompts you for a passphrase.

Type in a passphrase. You can also hit the ENTER key to accept the default (no passphrase). However, this is not recommended.

You will need to enter the passphrase a second time to continue.

After you confirm the passphrase, the system generates the key pair.

Your private key is saved to the id_rsa file in the .ssh directory and is used to verify the public key you use belongs to the same Triton Compute Service account.

	Never share your private key with anyone!

Your public key is saved to the id_rsa.pub ;file and is the key you upload to your Triton Compute Service account. You can save this key to the clipboard by running this:

Importing your SSH key

Now you must import the copied SSH key to the portal.

1. After you copy the SSH key to the clipboard, return to your account page.
2. Choose to Import Public Key and paste your SSH key into the Public Key field.
3. In the Key Name field, provide a name for the key. Note: although providing a key name is optional, it is a best practice for ease of managing multiple SSH keys.
4. Add the key. It will now appear in your table of keys under SSH.

Troubleshooting

You may see a password prompt like this:

This is because:

• You did not enter the correct passphrase.
• The private key on your Macintosh ( id_rsa ) does not match the public key stored with your Triton Compute Service account.
• The public key was not entered correctly in your Triton account.

What are my next steps?

In order to use the Terminal to create instances, set up triton and CloudAPI as well as the triton-docker commandline tool.

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What is an SSH KEY?

An SSH key is an access credential for the SSH (secure shell) network protocol. This authenticated and encrypted secure network protocol is used for remote communication between machines on an unsecured open network. SSH is used for remote file transfer, network management, and remote operating system access. The SSH acronym is also used to describe a set of tools used to interact with the SSH protocol.

SSH uses a pair of keys to initiate a secure handshake between remote parties. The key pair contains a public and private key. The private vs public nomenclature can be confusing as they are both called keys. It is more helpful to think of the public key as a «lock» and the private key as the «key». You give the public ‘lock’ to remote parties to encrypt or ‘lock’ data. This data is then opened with the ‘private’ key which you hold in a secure place.

How to Create an SSH Key

SSH keys are generated through a public key cryptographic algorithm, the most common being RSA or DSA. At a very high level SSH keys are generated through a mathematical formula that takes 2 prime numbers and a random seed variable to output the public and private key. This is a one-way formula that ensures the public key can be derived from the private key but the private key cannot be derived from the public key.

SSH keys are created using a key generation tool. The SSH command line tool suite includes a keygen tool. Most git hosting providers offer guides on how to create an SSH Key.

Generate an SSH Key on Mac and Linux

Both OsX and Linux operating systems have comprehensive modern terminal applications that ship with the SSH suite installed. The process for creating an SSH key is the same between them.

1. execute the following to begin the key creation

This command will create a new SSH key using the email as a label

2. You will then be prompted to «Enter a file in which to save the key.»
You can specify a file location or press “Enter” to accept the default file location.

3. The next prompt will ask for a secure passphrase.
A passphrase will add an additional layer of security to the SSH and will be required anytime the SSH key is used. If someone gains access to the computer that private keys are stored on, they could also gain access to any system that uses that key. Adding a passphrase to keys will prevent this scenario.

At this point, a new SSH key will have been generated at the previously specified file path.

4. Add the new SSH key to the ssh-agent

The ssh-agent is another program that is part of the SSH toolsuite. The ssh-agent is responsible for holding private keys. Think of it like a keychain. In addition to holding private keys it also brokers requests to sign SSH requests with the private keys so that private keys are never passed around unsecurly.

Before adding the new SSH key to the ssh-agent first ensure the ssh-agent is running by executing:

Once the ssh-agent is running the following command will add the new SSH key to the local SSH agent.

The new SSH key is now registered and ready to use!

Generate an SSH Key on Windows

Windows environments do not have a standard default unix shell. External shell programs will need to be installed for to have a complete keygen experience. The most straight forward option is to utilize Git Bash. Once Git Bash is installed the same steps for Linux and Mac can be followed within the Git Bash shell.

Windows Linux Subsystem

Modern windows environments offer a windows linux subsystem. The windows linux subsystem offers a full linux shell within a traditional windows environment. If a linux subsystem is available the same steps previously discussed for Linux and Mac can be followed with in the windows linux subsystem.

Summary

SSH keys are used to authenticate secure connections. Following this guide, you will be able to create and start using an SSH key. Git is capable of using SSH keys instead of traditional password authentication when pushing or pulling to remote repositories. Modern hosted git solutions like Bitbucket support SSH key authentication.

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How to generate an SSH key pair in Mac OS?

SiteGround uses key pairs for SSH authentication purposes, as opposed to plain username and password. More information on SSH keys is available here.

You can generate an SSH key pair in Mac OS following these steps:

• Open up the Terminal by going to Applications > Utilities > Terminal
• In the terminal, use the following command to start the key generation

• Next, you will be prompted to provide the location where you want to create the private key file:

Leave this empty to create the key in the default location, which is /home/youruser/.ssh/id_rsa. The public key file will be created in the very same location, and with the same name, but with the .PUB extension.

• Afterwards you will be prompted to choose a password. This is the password required to use the private key.

That completes the key generation. Below is an example of the entire process:

Mac_user: ssh-keygen -t rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
16:8e:e8:f2:1d:c9:b9:cf:43:9a:b3:3c:c1:1f:95:93 Mac_user

This will create a private key written to /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa and a public key written to /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.

After that you will have to upload the public key in Site Tools > Devs > SSH Keys Manager, go to Import and paste the key. Load the private key in your Terminal using the ssh-add command:

You will be asked for the passphrase of your key when loading it in the Terminal.

With the generated keys, you should now be able to connect via SSH. More information on how to connect via SSH to your SiteGround hosting account can be found below:

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How To Create SSH Keys with OpenSSH on macOS, Linux, or Windows Subsystem for Linux

Published on December 1, 2020

Introduction

When setting up a remote Linux server, you’ll need to decide upon a method for securely connecting to it. While passwords are one way of verifying a user’s identity, passwords have multiple vulnerabilities and can be cracked by a brute force attack. Secure Shell keys — better known as SSH keys — are often used instead of passwords, as they offer a more secure method of connecting to remote Linux servers. As part of the Secure Shell cryptographic network protocol, SSH keys also enable users to securely perform network services over an unsecured network, such as delivering text-based commands to a remote server or configuring its services.

This tutorial will guide you through the steps of creating SSH keys with OpenSSH, a suite of open source SSH tools, on macOS and Linux, as well as on Windows through the use of the Windows Subsystem for Linux. It is written for an audience that is just getting started with the command line and will provide guidance on accessing the terminal on a personal computer. After completing this tutorial, you will have SSH keys that can be used to securely set up a server in the tutorial How To Set Up an Ubuntu 20.04 Server on a DigitalOcean Droplet that is part of the Introduction to the Cloud Curriculum.

If you are already familiar with the command line and looking for instructions on using SSH to connect to a remote server, please see our collection of tutorials on Setting Up SSH Keys for a range of Linux operating systems.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, you will need:

• A local machine running one of the following operating systems: macOS, Linux, or Windows with Windows Subsystem for Linux installed. If you are using Windows, you can find instructions for downloading or updating the Windows Subsystem for Linux on Microsoft’s documentation page. Note that while OpenSSH should work for a range of Linux distributions, this tutorial has been tested using Ubuntu 20.04.

Note: If you are looking for instructions on how to create SSH keys on a Windows machine that does not have the Windows Subsystem for Linux, please visit our product documentation How to Create SSH Keys with PuTTY on Windows.

• Some familiarity with working with a terminal and the command line. If you need an introduction to working with terminals and the command line, you can visit our guide A Linux Command Line Primer.

Step 1 — Understanding SSH Keys

SSH keys are two long strings of characters that can be used to authenticate the identity of a user requesting access to a remote server. These keys are generated by the user on their local computer using a SSH utility. One key is private and stored on the user’s local machine. The other key is public and shared with the remote server or any other entity the user wishes to securely communicate with.

When a user requests to connect to a server with SSH, the server sends a message encrypted with the public key that can only be decrypted by the associated private key. The user’s local machine then uses its private key to attempt to decrypt the message. If the message is successfully decrypted, the server grants the user access without the need of a password. Once authenticated, users can launch a remote shell session in their local terminal to deliver text-based commands to the remote server.

In the next step, you will open a terminal on your computer so that you can access the SSH utility used to generate a pair of SSH keys.

Step 2 — Opening a Terminal on Your Computer

A terminal allows you to interact with your computer through text-based commands rather than a graphical user interface. The way you access the terminal on your computer will depend on what type of operating system you are using.

On machines running macOS, the Terminal application is typically located in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. You can also find it by searching for “terminal” in the Search Spotlight.

If you are working on a Linux computer, your distribution’s default terminal application is also typically located in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. You can also find it by searching for “terminal” with the Desktop search functionality.

If you are working on a Windows machine running Windows Subsystem for Linux, a Linux terminal should open immediately after installation. You can also find it by searching for “Ubuntu” with the Desktop search functionality.

Once you have located your system’s terminal application, open up a new terminal window. Your terminal should display your user name, a dollar sign ( $ ), and a cursor. This is where you will begin to type commands to tell the terminal what to do.

In the next step, you will enter a text-based command to generate a pair of SSH keys.

Step 3 — Generating Keys With OpenSSH

Your macOS or Linux operating system should have the standard OpenSSH suite of tools already installed. This suite of tools includes the utility ssh-keygen , which you will use to generate a pair of SSH keys.

Type the following command into your terminal:

You will then be prompted to select a location for the keys. By default, the keys are stored in the

/.ssh directory with the filenames id_rsa for the private key and id_rsa.pub for the public key. Using the default locations allows your SSH client to automatically find your SSH keys when authenticating, so we recommend accepting these default options. To do so, press ENTER :

Warning: If you have previously generated a key pair, you will be prompted to confirm that you actually want to overwrite the existing key:

If you choose to overwrite the key on disk, you will not be able to authenticate using the previous key anymore. Selecting “yes” is an irreversible destructive process.

If you’re certain that you want to overwrite the existing key on disk, you can do so by pressing Y and then ENTER .

If you choose the default location, your public key will be located in /home/ sammy /.ssh/id_rsa.pub and your private key will be located in /home/ sammy /.ssh/id_rsa . Note that in your filepath, sammy will be replaced with your username.

After selecting a location for the key, you’ll be prompted to enter an optional passphrase which encrypts the private key file on disk.

If you enter a passphrase, you will have to provide it every time you use this key (unless you are running SSH agent software that stores the decrypted key). We recommend using a passphrase, but you can just press ENTER to bypass this prompt:

Following that final prompt, your system will generate the SSH key pair:

You now have a public and private key that you can use to authenticate.

Conclusion

Congratulations, you have now generated a pair of SSH keys. These keys can be used to securely connect with a remote server and are necessary for the tutorial How To Set Up an Ubuntu 20.04 Server on a DigitalOcean Droplet that follows this tutorial in the Introduction to the Cloud Curriculum.

For a deeper dive on working using SSH, please visit our guide SSH Essentials: Working With SSH Servers, Clients, and Keys.

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