Use ssh-keygen to generate new key pairs: A full tutorial

<p>SSH is a secure way to log into remote systems, but you can improve its security by using it to authenticate communicating hosts through the exchange of public keys — that is, generating a key pair using the <span style=”font-family: ‘courier new’, courier, monospace;”>ssh-keygen</span> command.</p>
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<p>This tutorial demonstrates how to use the <span style=”font-family: ‘courier new’, courier, monospace;”>ssh-keygen</span> command to create a new <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/public-key”>public key</a> and its related <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/definition/private-key”>private key</a>. Once you generate the keys, you can do the following:</p>
<ul class=”default-list”>
<li>Upload the public key to a remote server to enable automated and authenticated passwordless logins.</li>
<li>Use the same public key on multiple remote servers.</li>
<li>Use numerous public keys for different functions on the same server.</li>
</ul>
<p>GUI versions of SSH usually include the same functionality as the command-line versions. For example, PuTTYgen is a GUI version of <span style=”font-family: ‘courier new’, courier, monospace;”>ssh-keygen</span> for use with PuTTY, a <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchsecurity/tutorial/How-to-use-PuTTY-for-SSH-key-based-authentication”>GUI implementation of SSH for Windows</a>. Modern OSes, such as Linux, macOS and Windows Server, as well as Windows 11, include command-line versions of OpenSSH. Remember that SSH is cross-platform, enabling you to access Linux, macOS and Windows devices from each of the other OSes. For example, you might rely on a Windows 11 workstation for daily use and connect to several Linux servers using SSH.</p>
<p>This tutorial uses OpenSSH examples from the Windows PowerShell and Linux <a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatacenter/definition/bash-Bourne-Again-Shell”>Bash</a> (Bourne Again Shell) command-line interfaces (<a href=”https://www.techtarget.com/searchwindowsserver/definition/co

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