Creating an SSH Key Pair on the Command Line

To create an SSH key pair on the command line using ssh-keygen:

1. Open a shell for entering the commands.
2. At the prompt, enter the following:
      ssh-keygen -t rsa -N "" -b "2048" -C "key comment" -f path/root_name
   where the arguments are as follows:

   -t rsa	Use the RSA algorithm.
   -N "passphrase"	Passphrase to protect the use of the key (like a password). If you don't want to set a passphrase, don't enter anything between the quotes. Note: While a passphrase is not required, you should specify one as a security measure to protect the private key from unauthorized use.
   -b "2048"	Generate a 2048 bit key. You don't have to set this if 2048 is acceptable, as 2048 is the default. Note: A minimum of 2048 bits is recommended for SSH-2 RSA.
   -C "key comment"	A name to identify the key.
   -f path/root_name	The location where the key pair will be saved and the root name for the files. For example, if you give the root name as id_rsa, the name of the private key will be id_rsa and the public key will be id_rsa.pub.

   For example,

   

   Alternatively, you can simply enter ssh-keygen and then enter responses when prompted for a name and a passphrase. The keys will be created with default values: RSA keys of 2048 bits.

3. 

   To see that the files were created, type ls path/root_name*, for example,

4.