Rhel 7 Generate Ssh Key

Introduction

Rhel 7 Generate Ssh Key Password
Centos 7 Generate Ssh Host Keys

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 uses SSH Protocol 2 and RSA keys by default (see Section 14.1.3, “Protocol Versions” for more information). Important Do not generate key pairs as root, as only root would be able to use those keys. Apr 18, 2018 SSH, or secure shell, is an encrypted protocol used to administer and communicate with servers. When working with a CentOS server, chances are, you will spend most of your time in a terminal session connected to your server through SSH. This guide will show you how to generate SSH key-pair to set up password-less authentication on CentOS/RHEL 7. SSH keys offer a highly secure manner of logging into a server with SSH as against mere dependence on a password. While a password stands the risk of being finally cracked, SSH keys are rather impossible to decipher using brute force. Apr 12, 2018 SSH-key-based authentication provides a more secure alternative to password-based authentication. In this tutorial we'll learn how to set up SSH-key-based authentication on a CentOS 7 installation.

Secure Shell (SSH) is an encrypted protocol used by Linux users to connect to their remote servers.

Generally, there are two ways for clients to access their servers – using password based authentication or public key based authentication.

Using SSH keys for authentication is highly recommended, as a safer alternative to passwords.

This tutorial will guide you through the steps on how to generate and set up SSH keys on CentOS 7. We also cover connecting to a remote server using the keys and disabling password authentication.

1. Check for Existing Keys

Prior to any installation, it is wise to check whether there are any existing keys on the client machines.

Open the terminal and list all public keys stored with the following command:

The output informs you about any generated keys currently on the system. If there aren’t any, the message tells you it cannot access /.ssh/id_*.pub , as there is no such file or directory.

2. Verify SSH is Installed

To check if thw package is installed, run the command:

If you already have SSH, the output tells you which version it is running. Currently, the latest version is OpenSSH 8.0/8.0p1.

Note: Refer to our guide If you need to install and enable SSH on your CentOS system.

Steps to Creating SSH keys on CentOS

Step 1: Create SSH Key Pair

1. Start by logging into the source machine (local server) and creating a 2048-bit RSA key pair using the command:

If you want to tighten up security measures, you can create a 4096-bit key by adding the -b 4096 flag:

2. After entering the command, you should see the following prompt:

3. To save the file in the suggested directory, press Enter. Alternatively, you can specify another location.

Note: If you already have a key pair in the proposed location, it is advisable to pick another directory. Otherwise it will overwrite existing SSH keys.

4. Next, the prompt will continue with:

Although creating a passphrase isn’t mandatory, it is highly advisable.

5. Finally, the output will end by specifying the following information:

Now you need to add the public key to the remote CentOS server.

You can copy the public SSH key on the remote server using several different methods:

using the ssh-copy-id script
using Secure Copy (scp)
manually copying the key

The fastest and easiest method is by utilizing ssh-copy-id. If the option is available, we recommend using it. Otherwise, try any of the other two noted.

1. Start by typing the following command, specifying the SSH user account, and the IP address of the remote host:

If it is the first time your local computer is accessing this specific remote server you will receive the following output:

2. Confirm the connection – type yes and hit Enter.

3. Once it locates the id_rsa.pub key created on the local machine, it will ask you to provide the password for the remote account. Type in the password and hit Enter.

4. Once the connection has been established, it adds the public key on the remote server. This is done by copying the ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub file to the remote server’s ~/.ssh directory. You can locate it under the name authorized_keys.

5. Lastly, the output tells you the number of keys added, along with clear instructions on what to do next:

1. First, set up an SSH connection with the remote user:

2. Next, create the ~/.ssh directory as well as the authorized_keys file:

3. Use the chmod command to change the file permission:

chmod 700 makes the file executable, while chmod 600 allows the user to read and write the file.

4. Now, open a new terminal session, on the local computer.

5. Copy the content from id_rsa.pub (the SSH public key) to the previously created authorized_keys file on the remote CentOS server by typing the command:

With this, the public key has been safely stored on the remote account.

1. To manually add the public SSH key to the remote machine, you first need to open the content from the ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub file:

2. As in the image below, the key starts with ssh-rsa and ends with the username of the local computer and hostname of the remote machine:

3. Copy the content of the file, as you will need later.

4. Then, in the terminal window, connect to the remote server on which you wish to copy the public key. Use the following command to establish the connection:

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5. Create a ~/.ssh directory and authorized_keys file on the CentOS server with the following command:

6. Change their file permission by typing:

7. Next, open the authorized_keys file with an editor of your preference. For example, to open it with Nano, type:

8. Add the public key, previously copied in step 2 of this section, in a new line in (under the existing content).

9. Save the changes and close the file.

10. Finally, log into the server to verify that everything is set up correctly.

Once you have completed the previous steps (creating an RSA Key Pair and copying the Public Key to the CentOS server), you will be able to connect to the remote host without typing the password for the remote account.

All you need to do is type in the following command:

If you didn’t specify a passphrase while creating the SSH key pair, you will automatically log in the remote server.

Otherwise, type in the passphrase you supplied in the initial steps and press Enter.

Once the shell confirms the key match, it will open a new session for direct communication with the server.

Although you managed to access the CentOS server without having to provide a password, it still has a password-based authentication system running on the machine. This makes it a potential target for brute force attacks.

You should disable password authentication entirely by following the outlined steps.

Note: Consider performing the following steps through a non-root account with sudo privileges, as an additional safety layer.

1. Using the SSH keys, log into the remote CentOS server which has administrative privileges:

2. Next, open the SSH daemon configuration file using a text editor of your choice:

3. Look for the following line in the file:

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4. Edit the configuration by changing the yes value to no. Thus, the directive should be as following:

5. Save the file and exit the text editor.
6. To enable the changes, restart the sshdservice using the command:

7. Verify the SSH connection to the server is still functioning correctly. Open a new terminal window and type in the command:

In this article, you learned how to generate SSH key pairs and set up an SSH key-based authentication. We also covered copying keys to your remote CentOS server, and disabling SSH password authentication.

Next, You Should Read:

Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol used for secure connection between a client and a server and supports various authentication mechanisms. It is also used to transfer files from one computer to another computer over the network using secure copy (SCP) Protocol.
In this article we will show you how to setup password-less login on CentOS 7, RHEL 7, RHEL 8 using ssh keys to connect to remote Linux servers without entering password. Using Password-less login with SSH keys will increase the trust between two Linux servers for easy file synchronization or transfer.
In this example we will setup SSH password-less automatic login from server 192.168.1.5 as user rasho to 192.168.1.8 with user miroslav.

How do I Setup SSH Passwordless Login

To setup a passwordless SSH login in Linux all you need to do is to generate a public authentication key and append it to the remote hosts ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file.
The following command will generate a new 4096 bits SSH key pair with your email address as a comment:

Press Enter to accept the default file location and file name:

Next, the ssh-keygen tool will ask you to type a secure passphrase. Whether you want to use passphrase its up to you, if you choose to use passphrase you will get an extra layer of security. In most cases developers and system administrators are using SSH without a passphrase because they are useful for fully automated processes. If you don’t want to use passphrase just press Enter

The whole interaction looks like this:

Copy the public SSH key to remote host

Copying the key is a simple task and that can be completed by using ssh-copy-id command as shown.

When prompted for the remote user’s password, simply enter it. This will create the .ssh directory if missing and the authorized_keys file with appropriate permissions.

Test SSH Passwordless Login

Now that we have the key copied to our remote server, we can test the connection. You should not be asked for password:

If everything went well, you will be logged in immediately.

Disabling SSH Password Authentication

To add an extra layer of security to your server you can disable the password authentication for SSH.
Log into your remote server with SSH keys:

Open the SSH configuration file /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

Search for the following directives and modify as it follows:

Once you are done save the file and restart the SSH service.