SSH Passwords

ssh-password.md

How to set up passwordless ssh,scp, and rsync

Setup

1. Install the application sshpass:

sudo apt install sshpass

2. Make sure to set in your ~/.ssh/config file the following options to prevent ssh from using your pubkey:

PreferredAuthentications password
PubkeyAuthentication no
PasswordAuthentication yes
ServerAliveInterval 10

3. Run the following command to create your new "sshpass" file with your ssh password.

echo yourpassword > .sshpass

4. Encrypt the "sshpass" file with gpg:

gpg -c ~/.sshpass

5. Remove original decrypted version of the file:

rm -rf ~/.sshpass

Usage

Using with an $SSHPASS environmental variable:

export $SSHPASS=your_password
sshpass -e ssh vivek@server.somesite.com

Using it with a .sshpass (or any named) file:

sshpass -f fileNameHere ssh user@server

Using it with GPG for encryption:

gpg -d -q .sshpass.gpg > fifo; sshpass -f fifo ssh user@server

Using it with rsync:

rsync --rsh="sshpass -e ssh -l username" server.example.com:/var/www/html/ /backup/

Misc

Here are some handy aliases for using a GPG encrypted password file:

alias ssh='gpg -d -q ~/.sshpasswd.gpg > fifo; sshpass -f fifo ssh'
alias scp='gpg -d -q ~/.sshpasswd.gpg > fifo; sshpass -f fifo scp'