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Create a ssh key

  • Access to the INCD clustercomputing clusters is doneperformed byvia sshSSH keys

    • and
requires the use of SSH keys. Access with passwords is not supported. Each SSH key pair has two components a public key that must be added to the remote hosts and a private key that must be added to the user workstation or laptop machine, and that must be protected with a password. The users must generate their own SSH key pairs in their own machine. To generate an SSH key pair follow these instructions.

Linux

  • Users must generate thean SSH key pair in a computer of their own computer (desktop, notebook etc).
  • The passphrase is used to protect the private key, please choose a good password with uppercase and lowercase characters, numbers and symbols.
$ ssh-keygen -b 4096 
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/username/.ssh/id_rsa): 
Created directory '/home/username/.ssh'.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase):           ----> IMPORTANT: Choose a strong password 
Enter same passphrase again:                          ----> IMPORTANT: Choose a strong password
Your identification has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
  • ssh-keygen will create a pair of keys, private (id_rsa) and public (id_rsa.pub), belowthese files are created is the user home directory under $HOME/.ssh
ls -l ~/$HOME/.ssh/
total 8
-rw------- 1 username group 1743 Feb 19 10:52 id_rsa
-rw-r--r-- 1 username group  404 Feb 19 10:52 id_rsa.pub
  • Users must send to the INCD administrators only the public key id_rsa.pub
  • The private key must NEVER be shared with other users.persons.

Windows

  • For users accessing the INCD public machines we recommend the use of Linux terminal emulators in Windows like Mobaxterm

  • Windows users can also generate ssh-keys using Putty

    • Download and install Putty
    • Generate the key in your Windows machine see these examples:

  • Users must send to the INCD administrators only the public key id_rsa.pub

  • The private key must NEVER be shared with other users.persons.

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