1.7 KiB

Raw Blame History

Public Key Authentication

General

login on the server using password
NOTE: Leave this terminal/shell always open until this configuration is successfully validated. This is a backup connection to your server using password in case the public key authentication fails.

ssh -p<tbd> <user>@<host name>

open the sshd_config file using a text editor like this

sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config

in this file, make sure the following options are set as follows

PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitRootLogin no
PubkeyAuthentication yes
#GSSAPIAuthentication yes
#GSSAPICleanupCredentials no
UsePAM yes

save this file and restart sshd service

sudo systemctl restart sshd

navigate to your local host home folder and check permissions

cd ~
ls -ld
chmod 0700 ~
ls -ld

navigate to the .ssh folder and check permissions

cd ~/.ssh
ls -ld
chmod 0700 ~/.ssh
ls -ld authorized_keys
chmod 0600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

copy your existing local host public key on the server

ssh-copy-id -p<tbd> <user>@<host name>

login on the server using public key authentication

ssh -p<tbd> <user>@<host name>

if you completed public key authentication successfully, you may savely close the terminal/shell running the open password-based login
revert the password changes in ssh_config if you are srcurity conscious\

sudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
PasswordAuthentication no

save this file and restart sshd service

sudo systemctl restart sshd

Links

How to Fix SSH Failed Permission Denied (publickey)

How to Set Up SSH Keys on Debian 11