Generate an RSA key to use with Cloud platforms

An SSH key consists of a pair of files.  One file is the private key, which you keep to yourself and never give out to anyone.  The other is a public key which you share with other people or platforms.  Key pairs are handy when you are provisioning cloud environments because they give you a simple way to access the platform.

Generate an SSH Key

To generate an SSH key, you will need to use the ssh-keygen utility.  The ssh-keygen utility stores the keys in a safe location so you can bypass the login prompt when connecting to a remote/cloud server.

To generate your SSH Keys in a Mac OS environment, follow these steps:

1. Open a Terminal windows

2. Start the key generation process by issuing.  Press enter to accept the default location (~/.ssh).  Then you will be promoted to provide a password.  Password will need to be provided twice.

$ ssh-keygen -t rsa

After you provided the password, the system will save your private key (id_rsa) in the ~/.ssh directory.  DO NOT SHARE THIS FILE WITH ANYONE!

There will be a file called id_rsa.pub which is your public key.  This key can be shared with whoever needs it and uploaded to remote/cloud servers.

Enjoy!!

@dbasolved

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