I use SSH constantly. Every day I find myself logged in to multiple servers and Pis (both in the same room as me and over the internet). I have many devices I need access to, and different requirements for gaining access, so as well as using various SSH/SCP command options I have to maintain a config file with all the connection details.
SSH keys
SSH keys are a way to authenticate SSH connections without using a password, either to speed up your access or as a security measure, if you turn password access off and ensure only authorised keys are permitted. To create an SSH key, run the command:
ssh-keygen
This will create a key-pair (a public and private key) in ~/.ssh/ – keep the private key (id_rsa) on the PC and never share it. You can share the public key (id_rsa.pub) with others or place it on other servers.
ssh-copy-id
If I’m working on a Pi at home or at work, I tend to leave SSH settings at their default, as I’m not concerned with security on an internal trusted network, and I usually copy my SSH key to the Pi to save having to authenticate with a password every time. To do this, I use the ssh-copy-id command to copy it to the Pi. This automatically adds your key to the Pi:
ssh-copy-id pi@192.168.1.20
On production servers I tend to turn off password authentication and only allow authorised SSH keys.
ssh-import-id
Another similar tool is ssh-import-id. You can use this to give yourself (or others) access to a computer or server by importing their keys from GitHub. For example, I have registered my various SSH keys with my GitHub account so I can push to GitHub without a password. These public keys are made available so ssh-import-id can use them to authorise me from any of my computers:
ssh-import-id gh:bennuttall
I can also use this to give someone else access to a server without asking them for their keys:
ssh-import-id gh:waveform80
storm
I also use a tool called Storm, which helps you add SSH connections to your SSH config so you don’t have to remember them all. You can install it with pip:
sudo pip3 install stormssh
Then you can add an SSH connection to your config with the following command:
storm add pi3 pi@192.168.1.20
Then you can just use ssh pi3 to gain access. Similarly, scp file.txt pi3: or sshfs pi pi3:
You can also use more SSH options, such as the port number:
storm add pi3 pi@192.168.1.20:2000
You can list, search and edit saved connections easily. See the docs. All storm actually does is manage items in your ssh config file at ~/.ssh/config – once you see how these are stored, you might choose to edit them manually. An example connection in config looks like this:
Host pi3
user pi
hostname 192.168.1.20
port 22