OT: ssh passphrases (was Re: [PLUG] rsync)
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
Thu Feb 5 08:22:01 UTC 2004
On Thu, 5 Feb 2004 gepr at tempusdictum.com wrote:
> This brings up a question I've had for awhile. I use a not
> insignificant passphrase for my ssh identity. Does this matter? Am
> I wasting keystrokes?
Yes, you're wasting keystrokes. :-) The long answer is that you could
save yourself time in the long run by
1. wrapping your X or terminal session in ssh-agent
2. load your key into memory using ssh-add
This assumes, of course, that you've already pushed your public key to
~/.ssh/authorized_keys on any remote machines you log into.
A simple demo is available in any xterm:
you at localhost$ eval $(ssh-agent -s)
Agent pid XXXX
you at localhost$ ssh-add
Enter passphrase for /home/you/.ssh/id_rsa:
you at localhost$ ssh remote.host
you at remotehost$ # hey no passphrase required! :-)
you at remotehost$ exit
you at localhost$ ssh-add -D
All identities removed.
you at localhost$ eval $(ssh-agent -k)
echo Agent pid XXXX killed;
--Paul Heinlein <heinlein at madboa.com>
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