Getting a Remote Machine to Accept a Key

For the system to work, the remote machines you connect to need access to your public key(s) so that they can challenge your agent when you connect. To do this you must add your public keys to the file:-

$HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys

for the remote account on the remote machine. Take note of the following points:-

• If the file doesn't exist then just create it using a copy of your public key otherwise just append your key.

• Public keys are very long. They may look like they are several lines of text but are in reality a single line and should appear as such in the authorized_keys file.

• The permissions on the authorized_keys file should only allow user rw access. If any other access is allowed the SSH may refuse to process the file on the grounds that it may be compromised. If in doubt do:-

  chmod 600 authorized_keys

  to set permissions correctly.

If you follow these instructions successfully then:-

• You should have an agent running offering your keys.

• You should be able to run SSH and SCP to a remote machine without supplying a password.