How to generate SSH key and add to the ssh agent?

As we know all time we access the ssh of any system by using the username and password so we can avoid this by adding the ssh to the agent system. If you don’t want to re-enter the password of ssh then add your key to the ssh-agent.

Step 1:-

Open ssh Gt bash.

Step 2:-

Generating new ssh key.

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C “[email protected]” it will create the ssh key.

Step 3:-

When you’re prompted to “Enter a file in which to save the key,” press Enter. This accepts the default file location.

Enter a file in which to save the key (/Users/you/.ssh/id_rsa): [Press enter]

Step 4:-

At the prompt, type a secure password.

Enter a file in which to save the key (/Users/you/.ssh/id_rsa): [Press enter]

Enter same passphrase again: [Type passphrase again]

Adding your SSH key to ssh-agent

Before adding a new SSH key to the ssh-agent to manage your keys, you should have checked for existing SSH keys and generated a new SSH key.

Ensure the ssh-agent is running. The ssh-agent should be running. If you are using another terminal prompt you can use the “Auto-launching the ssh-agent” instructions in “Working with SSH key passphrases”, or start it manually.

# start the ssh-agent in the background
eval $(ssh-agent -s)
Agent pid 59566

Add your SSH key to the ssh-agent. If you used an existing SSH key rather than generating a new SSH key, you’ll need to replace id_rsa in the command with the name of your existing private key file.

$ ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Conclusion

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Where is the ssh-agent?

SSH keys are stored in the. ssh directory inside the user’s home directory by default.

Q2. What is the SSH key format?

The public key generated by ssh-keygen is saved in the SSH format, which is not a cryptographic standard. Its structure is ALGORITHM KEY COMMENT, where the Base64 encoding of the KEY component of the format.

Q3. What is the SSH host key?

A host key is a cryptographic key that the SSH protocol uses to authenticate machines. Typically using the RSA, DSA, or ECDSA algorithms, host keys are key pairs. Private keys are kept on SSH servers, while public host keys are kept on or transmitted to SSH clients.