ssh-keygen

Introduction

ssh-keygen is a Unix utility that is used to generate, manage, and convert authentication keys for ssh authentication. With the help of the ssh-keygen tool, a user can create passphrase keys for both SSH protocol version 1 and version 2. ssh-keygen creates RSA keys for SSH protocol version 1 and RSA or DSA keys for use by SSH protocol version 2. These keys differ from keys used by GNU Privacy Guard.

Usage

Compute Systems Invocation Version(s)
Red Hat Linux (64-bit) % /usr/bin/ssh-keygen 4.3 (default)

Notes

  1. Generate Your Key Pair.

    To fully exploit OpenSSH's security features, generate a public and private key pair. Run:

    
    % ssh-keygen -t rsa
    Generating public/private rsa key pair.
    Enter file in which to save the key (/home/csdue/username/.ssh/id_rsa):
    Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
    Enter same passphrase again:
    Your identification has been saved in /home/csdue/username/.ssh/id_rsa.
    Your public key has been saved in /home/csdue/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
    The key fingerprint is:
    d3:73:34:63:ed:e4:29:7d:4d:64:5d:7a:db:fd:44:22 username@hostname.cse.Buffalo.EDU
    
    

    ssh-keygen requests a passphrase which is used to generate the keys. This passphrase can then be used to authenticate when using any of the ssh commands instead of your UNIX password.

References

  1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSSH
  2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ssh-keygen