Using SSH keys | Scientific Data and Computing Center (2024)

FAQs

Can I use the same SSH key across multiple computers? ›

SSH Keys on Multiple Machines

If you own multiple machines (e.g., a desktop and a laptop), then you can generate a public/private key pair on one machine, upload the public key to the LDAP server, and copy the private key to your other machines.

Basic overview of SSH Keys. An SSH key is an access credential in the SSH protocol. Its function is similar to that of user names and passwords, but the keys are primarily used for automated processes and for implementing single sign-on by system administrators and power users.

Yes, a single private key can be used to log in to multiple Linux systems. It's even recommended to do so. The process is very straightforward. When you use an utility such as ssh-keygen, this generates a so-called private/public key pair.

It would be safer to create new key and invalidate the old one in bitbucket configuration, but you can reuse it. It is enough to copy private and public part of the key from previous computer to a new one. Disk location should be ${home}/. ssh where ${home} depends on your operating system.

On the remote server side, it is saved in a public key file. On the user's side, it is stored in SSH key management software or in a file on their computer. The private key remains only on the system being used to access the remote server and is used to decrypt messages.

Generate SSH keys for each user

GitHub does not allow us to use the same SSH key in multiple accounts, so we'll have to create separate keys for each account. We can create SSH keys and add them to our SSH agent by following this guide from the GitHub Documentation.

How do I push SSH keys to my server? ›

By default, your private and public keys are saved in your ~/. ssh/id_rsa and ~/. ssh/id_rsa. pub files, respectively.

SSH or Secure Shell is a network communication protocol that enables two computers to communicate (c.f http or hypertext transfer protocol, which is the protocol used to transfer hypertext such as web pages) and share data.

An example of an SSH key can be ssh-id-rsa This is an RSA key often stored in an SSH authorized_keys file. It is especially important for maintaining secure connections in Windows systems.

If you only have one device to remotely connect to via SSH you can keep the standard port 22. However, if you want to set up multiple connections you should give separate port numbers for each (and recall they should be higher than 1024).

Your private key is never sent to the other site so it's perfectly safe to reuse the public key. It's also OK to reuse the same key your local computers.

So, No - you'll need a separate key for each account. Although you need multiple ssh key pairs for multiple accounts you can configure multiple ssh identities and use via aliases on your machine. You can also just use your username in place of "git" or "hg". Still need separate keys, though.

1 Answer. You can use the same key for multiple remote systems. The private key is never shared with the service you log in to, so authenticating towards Github will not allow Github to impersonate you.