SSH Configuration Guide

A quick SSH Guide

Install SSH Client

You probably have an SSH Client installed, here is how to check.

ssh -V

If you don’t have it installed the method varies on operating systems.

Linux

Its as simple as using your distributions package manager!

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install openssh-client
 
# Arch Linux/Manjaro
sudo pacman -S openssh
 
# OpenSUSE:
sudo zypper install openssh
 
# Fedora
sudo dnf install -y openssh-clients

SSH should start automatically, you can check with the following command.

systemctl status sshd

If its not running you can run the following commands.

# Run command to start 
sudo systemctl start sshd
 
# Run command to start automatically on boot.
sudo systemctl enable sshd

MacOS

OpenSSH should be installed but is usually outdated so you can update with the following command.

brew install openssh

You can check that its running with

ps -ax | grep ssh-agent

To start it, run:

eval $(ssh-agent)

Windows

Windows is a little more complicated so the full comprehensive guide is linked below. Install OpenSSH on Windows

Generate SSH Key Pairs

Now its time to generate your SSH key pair with

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -b 4096 -C "username@emaildomain.com" -f ~/.ssh/ssh-key-name

Note: If you are on Windows the ’~’ which leads to the home directory only works on Powershell

You will then be prompted for a passphrase, which you will be required to input every time you use this key.

Since I am using this key with GitHub I will name the file github.

You can follow this guide to add your public key to github. Add SSH Key to GitHub

If your ssh client is unable to find your key automatically, you can specify which key to use with the ssh config file in ~/.ssh/config

If the file is not found you may create it.

# ~/.ssh/config
 
Host github
	HostName github.com
	IdentityFile ~/.ssh/github