August 2, 2007 – 1:15pm SSH Login without entering your password

Using an SSH key to connect to the server allows you to log in without entering your password.

To generate an SSH key on Mac OS X or Linux machines:

• Open a Terminal window and enter:

ssh-keygen -d

Unless you set an alternative local storage location when prompted, your public key will be stored in ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub. For increased security enter a passphrase when prompted, however this is probably not necessary unless many people use your computer.

• At the command line enter the following and copy the output to the clipboard.

cat ~/.ssh/id_dsa.pub

• Log in to the server.
• Switch into the ssh directory:

cd .ssh

• Type:

vi authorized_keys

• Paste your public key from the clipboard, then save and exit vi.