SFTP with public key authentication

[axman505]

I have a default redhat 9 installed using the default sftp subsystem. We have the need to authentication via public key authentication instead of username/password. Can anyone shed some information on how to accomplish this?

 

[ericbrunson]

Generate a keypair with ssh-keygen and put the public key in the authorized_keys file on the remote machine.

 

[axman505]

no configuration settings need to be changed?

 

[ericbrunson]

Most installations enable it by default since it's the most secure form of authentication it has, but you may have to enable it in /etc/ssh/sshd.conf

 

[axman505]

This is on a per account basis correct? .. or is this a per server thing?

 

[ericbrunson]

Enabling pubkey auth is per server, installing the public keys is per user.