Secure Shell: SSH

The ability to authenticate with ssh keys, is the most powerful feature of SSH. As a result, the user has to produce a key pair and key in the so called public key into the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on the server. Basically, the key is protected by a password and controlled by the ssh-agent. Nevertheless if the key is utilized for automating task it must not include a password.

[georgia@georgia ~]$ ssh-keygen -t rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/georgia/.ssh/id_rsa):
Created directory '/home/georgia/.ssh'.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /home/georgia/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/georgia/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
67:5a:60:ac:70:95:18:8d:02:1b:e1:c2:da:5c:88:81 georgia@georgia.rhce.test

[georgia@georgia ~]$ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh georgia@greg.rhce.test 'cat >>.ssh/authorized_keys'
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.2 (Tikanga)
Kernel \r on an \m
georgia@greg.rhce.test's password:

Now, check your configuration by do the following:

[georgia@georgia ~]$ ssh georgia@greg.rhce.test
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.2 (Tikanga)
Kernel \r on an \m
georgia@greg.rhce.test's password:
Last login: Thu Jul 31 16:23:42 2008

It should work as above.