How to add SSH public key to the Server in Centos 7

In key-based authentication, we need to generate SSH key pairs and the pair use for authentication. The private key is used for client machine and public key uploaded to the remote machine.

Step 1: Create a hidden .ssh directory on the user home directory if not created:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# mkdir –p /home/<username>/.ssh

Step 2: Create or edit the authorized_keys file inside the .ssh directory and paste the public key into this file at the end:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# vi /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 3: Set the required strict mode permissions:

[root@linuxcnf ~]# chown username.username /home/<username>/.ssh [root@linuxcnf ~]# chown username.username /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys [root@linuxcnf ~]# chmod 700 /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys [root@linuxcnf ~]# chmod 600 /home/<username>/.ssh/authorized_keys

Done! SSH to the server using SSH Key authentication.