Switching from password to SSH key

Question

If I selected the password option when creating my droplet, is it possible to change it to SSH? Thanks

Bobby · Answer

Hey there! Absolutely, you can switch from password authentication to SSH key authentication on your DigitalOcean Droplet. Here’s how you do it: If you haven’t already, you need to generate an SSH key pair. Open your terminal and use the following command: ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com" Follow the prompts to save the key and add a passphrase if desired. Your public key will be saved in ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub by default. Use this command to copy it: cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub Copy the output to your clipboard. Log in to your Droplet using the password you set up: ssh root@your_droplet_ip Once logged in, create a .ssh directory and an authorized_keys file if they don’t exist: mkdir -p ~/.ssh echo "your_copied_public_key" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys chmod 700 ~/.ssh Open the SSH configuration file: nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config Make sure the following lines are set: PubkeyAuthentication yes PasswordAuthentication no To apply the changes, restart the SSH service: systemctl restart sshd Open a new terminal window and try logging in again with your SSH key: ssh root@your_droplet_ip If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Happy coding! - Bobby

KFSys · Answer

Heya, Yes, you can do that and it’s even a more reliable method to keep your Droplet safe, so it’s a good choice to change it up! What you’ll need to do is deploy your ssh public key to your Droplet and enable PubkeyAuthentication in your sshd config. So, let’s begin Once inside the Droplet, open the file /root/.ssh/authorized_keys and paste your public key there. If there isn’t a .ssh directory in your /root folder, you can create the structure like so: mkdir -p ~/.ssh echo "your_copied_public_key" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys chmod 700 ~/.ssh Once that is done, open your sshd config: nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config Inside you’ll need to find the line PubkeyAuthentication and uncomment it or you can just add it as a new line PubkeyAuthentication Yes Also, if you want to stop PasswordAuthentication, find the line and set it to No PasswordAuthentication no Once that is done, save the file, exit it and restart your SSHD service service sshd restart That’s it. You can now use your SSH key to enter your Droplet.

alexdo · Answer

Heya, Yes, as mentioned this is totally doable. On top of what’s already been mentioned I’ll include this article on how to add ssh-keys to existing droplets which you can use to add your key to the droplet. https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/droplets/how-to/add-ssh-keys/ Hope that this helps!

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Switching from password to SSH key

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