How to Set Up Keys for Empty Password Files When Using Multiple Key Pairs

If you are using empty password files and you generated a key pair for each SSH connection, complete this task to copy the keys to the Local Distributors and Remote Agents.

Before You Begin

Complete this task for every SSH connection, therefore every key pair, that is made on the network.

Steps

1. From the machine that is upstream, copy the public key to each machine that is downstream. Save the key in the User-home/.ssh/authorized_keys2 file.

   % cp /User-home-upstream/.ssh/id_rsa.pub /User-home-downstream/.ssh/authorized_keys2

   User-home-upstream is the home directory on the machine that is upstream. Use-home-downstream is the home directory on the Local Distributor or the Remote Agent machine to which the upstream machine will connect.

2. Ensure that the .ssh/ directory and any parent directories are not world writable.

3. Ensure that the private key file, .ssh/id_rsa, is not accessible by other users or groups.

4. Change the permissions for the .ssh/authorized_keys2 file to 600.