How to easily copy a public SSH key to another machine

Note#24

notes
Published

2022-11-27

ssh-copy-id user@server

Use the -i flag to specify a particular key

ssh-copy-id -i $HOME/.ssh/id_ed25519 user@server

From the documentation:

If the filename does not end in .pub this is added.

So, you don’t copy your private key, it’s alright. But add it nonetheless if you want to feel extra secured.

To disable root ssh login, add this to /etc/sshd_config:

PermitRootLogin no

To force ssh key login only, add this to /etc/sshd_config:

PubkeyAuthentication yes
PasswordAuthentication no

Finally, restart ssh:

sudo systemctl restart ssh