How to set up SSH key – macOS

1. Check SSH directory

Before we set up SSH, first step of the process to verify if ssh folder exists. You can go to the root folder in Finder and check manually that a directory called .ssh is present. The .ssh folder is by default hidden in Finder. You can see the hidden files clicking Command ⌘ + Shift ⇧ + .

Or, you can simply check in the terminal. Open terminal and type ls -ld ~/.ssh to verify if .ssh folder exists. If .ssh folder is present, you should be able to see the complete path of .ssh directory as you can see below.

$ ls -ld ~/.ssh
 drwx------  6 rajesh  staff  192 Jul  3 00:47 /Users/rajesh/.ssh 

If it says “No such file or directory”, that means you have not created a .ssh directory yet. Type mkdir ~/.ssh in the terminal to create the directory.

2. Create RSA public and private key

In the terminal, change directory to the recently created .ssh directory using the below command.

$ cd ~/.ssh

Type the following command to generate the public and private keys.

$ ssh-keygen -b 1024 -t rsa -f id_rsa

This will create RSA public and private key in the .ssh folder.

• id_rsa (private key)
• id_rsa.pub (public key)

3. Set up SSH on the node

Type following command to see your public key.

$ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

You can copy this public key and add it in your SSH under My Account.

Voila, you’re done!