can't figure out ssh, read lots of docs...

[Greg Barniskis]

Steven Friedrich wrote:
> I'm trying to use scp and I get prompted for a password or passphrase for each 
> invocation.
> 
> I figure I need to figure out how to get ssh to connect without prompting, but 
> I just can't get it.  I've read all the man pages and my head is swirling.  I 
> went to the OpenSSH web site and got no further.  I've been in the business 
> for 28 years and can usually figure things out from man pages, but ssh 
> doesn't seem to be clear enough.  I've been unemployed for over a year and 
> can't afford the OReilly book right now (which I'm offering as my defense for 
> asking here).
> 
> I've got two free chapters from the OReilly book, but they don't help.
> 
> I've used ssh-keygen and I'm trying to login to the localhost (using it's 
> hostname).
> 
> Anybody know of a short tutorial that just works?

I too had to read a lot of pages before getting the requisite "aha!" 
moment for this feature, but what you need is here:

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/openssh.html

Section 14.11.6 is awfully short, but it does summarize the relevant 
information. Basically, you take the public key generated for 
"username" on one machine (the ssh client) and append it to the 
authorized_keys file for the same "username" on the other machine 
(the sshd server). Since what you say you want is real transparency 
(no prompts), don't assign a passphrase when generating the keys.

If you've already gotten that far, using ssh -v[vv] can help you 
isolate where things are going wrong.

-- 
Greg Barniskis, Computer Systems Integrator
South Central Library System (SCLS)
Library Interchange Network (LINK)
<gregb at scls.lib.wi.us>, (608) 266-6348