How to create and enable SSH Keys | Scaleway

#1

How to create and enable SSH Keys

This page shows you how to create and enable SSH Keys.

Important

  • If you add a new SSH key into the console and can ssh your server, reload your ssh-keys with service ssh-keys start command
  • If you add a new SSH key into the console and can not access your server, reboot your server from the Control Panel to load ssh-keys

Before connecting to your servers, you must set an existing public Key to your account. If you already have an SSH Key skip Step 1.

Step 1 - Create the RSA Key Pair

  • On OSX and Linux
  • On Windows

On OSX and Linux

  • Open a terminal
  • Generate a new Key typing the following command ssh-keygen -t rsa
  • Give a name to your Key Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/me/.ssh/id_rsa): otherwise, the default name will be id_rsa
  • Set a passphrase Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): this step is not mandatory but highly recommended
  • You should now have two files for your Key (a public key that we will copy on your servers, and a private key that you must keep secret), in our example the two files are located in the /Users/me/.ssh/ directory

The public Key is named id_rsa.pub The private Key is named id_rsa

The entire key generation looks like this

ssh-keygen -t rsa
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/Users/me/.ssh/id_rsa):
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):
Enter same passphrase again:
Your identification has been saved in /Users/me/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /Users/me/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
12:93:cc:c1:5b:76:4f:b6:b9:b4:65:b0:33:8b:f1:59 me@localhost
...
  • Copy your public key content which is required for step 2
cat /Users/me/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQD3TsFepMvwNBIjsr3Zr85mj/Aho/tk3220ryzVxgxR44EWz9xe8YhUt0Tg08e4pHns8DV6UnGwDeGLtxNwSFZlh1Zox3jACHL2dId04NAjLno1MsddByudPB7UpRu+nUjN7b8/rIAjXNu4k7H+E1QEz8P7giPiql2YMxURO9TV0tbl4M9hNG0/S6ka/naF8pIUnz7Um1nHGiBsMh9IyJAMhdWJ1nN3p1dnG3ixvyf1Mb8+7sbHjRgdUA3L8/HTBOCp+twB9uG+GfFEdheyHcnbxdtkByLzx2GbEnLNZZ99pF9i/cdpcaWCpnnqf/6TNVpFyCWhSfBq8+4OKUHt5vDB

On windows

  • Download PuTTYgen
  • Launch PuTTYgen
  • Select SSH-2 RSA and click the “Generate” button

  • Two keys are generated (a public key that we will be copy on your servers, and a private key that you must keep secret)
  • Fill-in the Key-comment field with a name to help you identify this key pair
  • Click the “Save public key” button and save it in the folder of your choice
  • Click the “Save private key” button and save it the same folder
  • Select the public key content. Copy it (below “Public key for pasting into OpenSSH authorized_keys file”) into your clipboard which is required for step 2

Step 2 - Save the content of the public Key on the SSH Keys section

You now must save the content of the public Key in the Control Panel.

  • From the Control Panel, open the pull-down menu on your account name and click on “Credentials” link.

  • In the SSH Keys section paste the content of your public key in the text area and click on “New SSH Key” button.

ssh_keys.png885x357

You are now ready to create and start your first server!

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.scaleway.com/docs/configure-new-ssh-key/?embed_url=https://www.scaleway.com/docs/configure-new-ssh-key/