Creating a new Key pair in Mac OS X or Linux

ssh-keygen is a program that can be found on Mac, Linux, and other UNIX-based operating systems. For more information about the program, check out Wikipedia's entry on the subject here:

• ssh-keygen - Wikipedia

To generate a new Key pair, run the following commands on your home computer.

1. Open your terminal and run the following command under your username.

   [local]$ ssh-keygen -t rsa

   This creates a public/private keypair of the type (-t) rsa.

   Generating a public/private rsa key pair.
   Enter the file in which you wish to save they key (i.e., /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa):
   

2. Press Enter on your keyboard to continue with the default directory and name.

   The prompt defaults to save the new key pair in the /home/username/.ssh/ directory and name it id_rsa. However, you can adjust the location or name of the file here if you like by typing in the full path.

   Enter a passphrase (leave empty for no passphrase).

3. Press Enter on your keyboard to continue.

   It's not recommended that you use a passphrase.

   Enter same passphrase again:

4. Press Enter on your keyboard to continue.
   

   The following message appears:

   Your identification has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa
   Your public key has been saved in /home/username/.ssh/id_rsa.pub
   
   The key fingerprint is:
   ar:bc:d3:9e:g3:1f:63:6f:6b:32:2e:97:ee:42:e1:be username@server.dreamhost.com
   
   The key’s randomart image is:
   
   +--[ RSA 2048]----+
   | ..+**B.o++o     |
   |  . o+==o. o     |
   |    . .oo.=      |
   |      . +E+ .    |
   |        S .      |
   |                 |
   |                 |
   |                 |
   |                 |
   +-----------------+
   

5. Run the following command to view the new private and public key:

   [local]$ ls -1 ~/.ssh/
   id_rsa
   id_rsa.pub

6. Import the public key into your DreamCompute dashboard.