ssh - Using access keys

crg@crg.eti.br (Cesar Gimenes) — Sun, 09 Sep 2018 08:19:09 -0300

Watch the video for this article here.

Accessing servers over SSH with a public/private key pair is safer and more convenient — safer above all — and it also makes automating tasks much easier.

Creating the keys

First, generate the keys with the following command:

mkdir ~/.ssh
ssh-keygen

You only need to do this once on the client machine, and a key pair will be generated. You can choose the file name, which defaults to id_rsa for the private key and id_rsa.pub for the public key.

Using a VPN on macOS

crg@crg.eti.br (Cesar Gimenes) — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 20:05:18 -0300

Like any tool, a VPN is only effective if you know exactly which problem you want to solve with it. Some people want to keep their internet traffic anonymous, others want to protect their data, and so on. My own use is very specific: some internet providers are blocking important ports I need to reach certain services. For example, a well-known provider here in São Paulo is blocking TCP port 22, the one we use for SSH. Note that this is not the provider blocking incoming connections, which was already common, but outgoing ones — meaning that using any service that depends on SSH, like GitHub, or reaching a machine hosted on Google Cloud Platform’s Compute Engine becomes impossible.

Networking on Cesar Gimenes

ssh - Using access keys

Creating the keys

Using a VPN on macOS