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Create New Key Pair for SSH

Create the Key Pair

  • -C "" : No comment on the public key string
  • -f "~/my_ssh_key" : Output in the current user's home folder and use the base name as my_ssy_key
    • my_ssh_key : private key file
      • Never share this
    • my_ssh_key.pub : public key file
      • Add this to authorized_keys for target user on any target host(s)
  • -N "" : No passphrase when generating key

Bash

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "" -f "~/my_ssh_key" -N ""

PowerShell

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C '""' -f "my_ssh_key" -N '""'

Configure SSH Host(s)

Obtain Public Key String

cat ~/my_ssh_key.pub

Copy the output

Add as Authorized Key

echo 'ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3...[SNIP]...pNvcP' >> ~/.ssh/authorized_ekys

Append the public key string to the target user's authorized_keys file

Authenticate with Private Key

# FQDN
ssh -i my_ssh_key username@hostname.domain.tld

# IP
ssh -i my_ssh_key username@192.168.10.125

Recall that before we added my_ssh_key.pub contents to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys. The example above assumes something like /home/username/.ssh/authorized_keys or C:\Users\username\.ssh\authorized_keys.

Therefore when we authenticate with the private key, we indicate username @ host, where host is the computer where you modified /home/username/.ssh/authorized_keys.

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