ssh private/public keys

Note to self

I've always found setting up ssh rsa private/public keys fiddly. I have compiled some notes here:

When you are setting up ssh private/public keys do this.

Once you've generated your key, you can copy the public key across to the remote server in a one liner:

    $ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub yourusername@remoteserver

See here for more info.

Troubleshooting

Ssh onto the remote host as the user you want to set up and ensure that .ssh directory has the correct permissions:

    $ chmod 700 ~/.ssh

On the (RHEL) remote host:

    # vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Check the the following config is set:

 
    PubkeyAuthentication yes
    AuthorizedKeysFile    .ssh/authorized_keys

If you had to change it, restart the daemon:

    # service sshd restart