How to Use Key-Based Authentication for SSH

It is faster, easier, and more secure!

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

When connecting via SSH (Secure Socket Shell) you can authenticate in different ways. There is, of course, the standard and always reliable username and password. However, you can also authenticate using key-based authentication, which is safer, quicker, more reliable, and all in all the better option.

connecting with a key-based authentication has to be set up first, but when done, it offers multiple advantages:

• it is quicker
  since you do not have to input your password every time you connect, accessing a remote server only takes a few seconds at most
• it is safer
  key-based authentication is limited to specific devices and thus is harder to crack. Even if you have a “strong password” it is still easier to crack or guess than a public/private key pair.

Are there any disadvantages?

Well … yes. The private key is being stored on the client device and devices can be stolen. If not protected, the thieves can get access to the private key and thus to the remote machine.

How does it work?

key-based authentication works by generating a private/public key-value pair. The keys are being generated by using an…