Getting started with SSH key management

When you connect to a host via SSH, you’ll be asked for your password, and after you authenticate you’ll be connected. Instead of using your password, though, you can authenticate via public key authentication instead. The core benefit to this method is added security, as your system password is never transmitted during the process of connecting to the server. When you create an SSH key pair, you are generating two files, a public key and a private key. These two files are mathematically linked, so if you connect to a server that has your public key, it will know it’s you because you (and only you) have the private key that matches it. This method is far more secure than password authentication, and I highly recommend that you use it. To get the most out of the security benefit of authentication via keys, you can actually disable password-based authentication on your server so that your SSH key is your only way in. By disabling...