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Create a SSH key-pair for ClusterCS

Estimated reading: 2 minutes

In this article we explain why we would consider creating a unique set of SSH keys for ClusterCS.

A SSH key when generated creates a pair of keys, i.e two files. One being your public key (.pub) that you can share and distribute and the other being your private key. The private key file is guarded by you only as its solely private. One can not make use of the public key remotely set without the private key.

ClusterCS is a server management tool, a SaaS based Control Panel for your hosting needs that can manage many servers from one single Control Panel.

This means ClusterCS needs to connect to your remote servers that you have provisioned and to do so securely the preferred approach is to use a SSH key. In this example ClusterCS acts very similar to your computer (with your private SSH key) connecting to your server and this is why you also need Creating a SSH key-pair for ClusterCS to submit a private ssh key to the ClusterCS Control Panel (CCP) to have CCP connect to your remote server.

Instead of submitting your own commonly used private key to ClusterCS it is recommended you create a new dedicated key, so the private key you submit is just for ClusterCS to connect to your server(s).

Create a SSH key pair just for ClusterCS:

MacOS or Linux:

If you’re on MacOS or Linux – enter the following command in your terminal to generate a RSA 4096 bit key with your email as a comment:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C “email”

or ‘clustercs’ as comment if desired for better personal reference:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C “clustercs”

You can also opt to further protect your private key with a passphrase which is an option provided when running the above command(s) and also an available option to include “passphrase” within the CCP.

Windows:

If you are on a Windows PC you may want to use an app such as PuTTY that could be downloaded from here. A more detailed instruction could be found from this link.

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