RSA Authentication

[absi]

hi all
can anybody step by step way of configuring
ssh to use RSA Authentication.
It is installed on Redhat7 and still using
password authentication.
I am missing something definetley!
What is the use of ssh-add and ssh-agent
commands!
Can any one help me...No one on Aix forum
infact is able to help me!
Absi

 

[mbr]

Hi,

so you want to login to your box via ssh without using a password?

Althoug it is possible to use ".rhosts-authentication", it is disabled by default because of security reasons - it's that why you use ssh anyway, right?

It is also possible for the clients, to generate their keys without securing them with a passphrase, but that's almost the same thing.

so the idea of using "ssh-agent" is:

man ssh-agent

The idea is that ssh-agent is started in the beginning of an
X-session or a login session, and all other windows or pro-
grams are started as children of the ssh-agent program (the
command normally starts X or is the user shell). Programs
started under the agent inherit a connection to the agent,
and the agent is automatically used for RSA authentication
when logging to other machines using ssh.

With a "normal" login-session, you could:
exec ssh-agent /bin/bash

and afterwards add your private key to the agent by giving the passphrase for your key to the ssh-add-command.

You can then ssh or scp to your box without the need of giving your passphrase again.

Using that in a X-session is a bit tricky, it depends on your distribution, where to put the corresponding command.

The use of the ssh-agent should be forwarded to the remote box, but there have been some problems, i'm not sure if it works with the actual ssh-server.

pls ask again if this was not clear enough.

ciao,
mbr

 

[absi]

hi mbr
i am very thankfull to u for this help
Infact problem is that i have only one Linux server
on this server i am running both ssh client and
sshd server.
i am using this setup for testing purpose.
I have used ssh-agent as well as ssh-add
command but it is still reqiring password on
making ssh connection.
i have generated keypair ,copied public keys to authorized_keys in correct path , use ssh-agent
and ssh-add command successfully but still password
requirement!
Is there any req in default configuration of sshd_config and ssh_config files for RSA setup.....if yes what are these
pls tell me
I will remain thankfull to u or anyone who can help me
Absi

 

[mbr]

Hi absi,

i re-checked the procedure locally on my Sun Solaris, and it works as desired - so maybe you have to check your configuration again?

In "/etc/sshd_config" i have:
RhostsAuthentication no
RhostsRSAAuthentication yes
RSAAuthentication yes
PasswordAuthentication yes
PermitEmptyPasswords no

Your public key ($HOME/.ssh/identity.pub) has to be put into "$HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys".

Check the ssh-agent and ssh-add -part with "ssh-add -l":

bash-2.03$ ssh-add -l
1024 37 09599265858422339 [...]
user@host.company.com

If you are sure about the configuration maybe you have to upgrade your ssh-programs.

ciao, mbr