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SSH passwordless authentication

SSH passwordless authentication enables a user to log in to a remote server without entering a password, typically by using cryptographic keys.^[600-developer-linux-centos7-command.md]

Mechanism

The method relies on a pair of cryptographic keys: a private key and a public key.^[600-developer-linux-centos7-command.md] To establish this connection, the user must generate a key pair and then copy the public key to the target host.^[600-developer-linux-centos7-command.md] Specifically, the public key is appended to the authorized_keys file on the remote system.^[600-developer-linux-centos7-command.md]

Implementation

The standard procedure for setting up passwordless authentication involves two main commands:

  1. Generate keys: Create an RSA key pair using ssh-keygen.
  2. Distribute public key: Copy the public key to the destination host using ssh-copy-id.^[600-developer-linux-centos7-command.md]
  • [[SCP]]
  • [[Rsync]]
  • [[CentOS 7 commands]]

Sources

  • 600-developer-linux-centos7-command.md