

- The process of passing from one key to another verification#
- The process of passing from one key to another password#
- The process of passing from one key to another plus#
- The process of passing from one key to another download#
I may set this option to no if I know I need to be prompted for a password, such as to add or replace a key using ssh-copy-id. PubkeyAuthentication defaults to yes so that key authentication is attempted. I only need to specify PasswordAuthentication=yes if I am trying to override a locally customized configuration file. If I see a prompt, I know it is a passphrase or Kerberos prompt.

The process of passing from one key to another password#
I sometimes disable this setting to ensure that I am authenticating with a method other than SSH password authentication. PasswordAuthentication defaults to yes so that if other methods fail, the user will see a password prompt. If I know I need to be prompted for a password, such as when copying a new public key to a host, I use -o PreferredAuthentications=password. The default generally has five to six options listed with Kerberos first, keys in the middle, and password last. PreferredAuthentications specifies the order of methods to try. The following command has the same result as the one above: $ ssh -o IdentityFile=~/.ssh/id_somehubs options I use include: The IdentityFile SSH option can be used instead of -i. These options are described in the ssh_config man page. I also use a handful of other options specified with -o.

The -i option specifies the key to use and works the same with all of the SSH client utilities, including the ssh, ssh-copy-id, and scp commands: $ ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_somehubs option can be given muliple times to limit which keys to try, if you know it is one of a handful of keys, but I usually only need to specify the exact key.
The process of passing from one key to another verification#
There are a few options I use on the command line during setup, or for verification and then later in the configuration file for future use. The ssh man page not only describes the -i option, but also has a section titled AUTHENTICATION which further explains the steps used to determine which key or other method is used. When I use a client command such as ssh or scp, the utility selects a file based on command-line options, a per-host basis in the configuration file, or program defaults: I pick a name that hopefully makes as much sense to future me as it does currently. When I generate an SSH key pair, I get prompted for the name of the public key (identity) file with a default of ~/.ssh/id_rsa. How does my system decide which key to use?
The process of passing from one key to another plus#
In addition to the keys used from my workstation, I also have separate keys for any shared applications, plus the keys that need to be uploaded to an automation system such as Ansible Tower. I passphrase protect all (ok, most of) the keys, and am careful about access to the private key files. Of course, I need to keep all of these keys secure. (Again, the public key is often uploaded to a central site and propagated in an automated manner.) Each upstream community that allows SSH access, usually to gain write access for source control commits.Networks I manage where the public key is loaded into an identity management system that propagates it out to the systems I access interactively.Training classrooms and similar environments that use shared keys.In particular, I use different key pairs for: I currently have about a half dozen places where I use SSH keys on a regular basis and several other less frequently accessed locations. How well do you know Linux? Take a quiz and get a badge.Linux system administration skills assessment.A guide to installing applications on Linux.
The process of passing from one key to another download#
