Generating ssh keys

Generate a ssh key to connect without need for a password.

• You must be on the client that you want to automatically connect.
• ssh-keygen
• Add the key to the authorized keys on the server
  • ssh-copy-id -i {private key} {user}@{hostname}
• If you use the same key on multiple hosts, you can enable ssh agent forwarding when you connect to a host by using the -A option of ssh

Multiple keys: a key per host

You can generate as many keys as you want, and set up ssh to use a different key for every host.

• Edit ~/.ssh/config
• For every host enter the following:

# What you will write in the ssh command as hostname (ssh user@hostname). Can be multiple values separated by spaces to match multiple hosts or have aliases
Host {host}
# Where the connection will actually be made (actual address/name of the server). Can be %h if you want it to have the value specified in the command line (useful for using the same key on multiple machines)
Hostname {actual address}
# The identity used for this connection
IdentityFile {path to you ssh secret key}