SSH 101 Tutorial

ssh_101.txt

SSH 101 Tutorial

An SSH key allows you to establish a secure connection between your computer and GitLab. Before generating an SSH key in your shell, check if your system already has one by running the following command:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
If you see a long string starting with ssh-rsa or ssh-dsa, you can skip the ssh-keygen step.

Note: It is a best practice to use a password for an SSH key, but it is not required and you can skip creating a password by pressing enter. Note that the password you choose here can't be altered or retrieved.

To generate a new SSH key, use the following command:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -C "$your_email"
This command will prompt you for a location and filename to store the key pair and for a password. When prompted for the location and filename, you can press enter to use the default.

Use the command below to show your public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
Copy-paste the key to the 'My SSH Keys' section under the 'SSH' tab in your user profile. Please copy the complete key starting with ssh- and ending with your username and host.

To copy your public key to the clipboard, use code below. Depending on your OS you'll need to use a different command:

Windows:
clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Mac:
pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

GNU/Linux (requires xclip):
xclip -sel clip < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub