> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.hosting.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Configuring SSH keys using cPanel
> Manage SSH keys with cPanel to automate logins or enhance security with two-factor authentication.
This article describes how to create and deploy SSH keys using cPanel. With SSH keys, you can automate logins to your hosting.com account, or use two-factor authentication for increased security.
This article describes how to configure SSH keys using cPanel. If your hosting account does not include cPanel, or if you want to use the command line to configure SSH keys, please see [this article](/docs/using-ssh-keys).
## Using SSH keys
When you log in to your account interactively using an SSH client as described in [this article](/docs/using-ssh-secure-shell), you must enter a password every time. But what if you want to run an automated process? Perhaps you want to automatically download a database backup at certain times to your local computer. In this scenario, you don't want to have to manually type your SSH password every time the backup process runs.
Or what if you want to allow multiple users to transfer files securely using SFTP, as described in [this article](/docs/setting-up-sftp-access-for-multiple-users)? You would need to give them your cPanel password, which would give them complete access to your account.
You can solve these problems by using SSH keys to connect to your account. SSH keys enable your computer to log in to your hosting.com account automatically without you typing a password. To use SSH keys, you must first create a public key and private key (also known as a key pair). The client's private key stays on your local computer, while the public key resides on the hosting.com server.
Alternatively, you can also create SSH keys and protect them with a passphrase for two-factor authentication. Although this configuration does not enable automatic logins, it does provide an extra layer of security, because you must have the correct key file*and* know the correct passphrase to access the account.
## Configuring SSH keys in cPanel
When you configure SSH keys in cPanel, you can create a new key pair, or import an existing key.
### Option #1: Generating a new key
To generate a new SSH key pair for your account, follow these steps:
1. Log in to cPanel.
> π Note
>
> If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see [this article](/docs/accessing-cpanel).
2. On the **Tools** page, in the **Security** section, click **SSH Access**:\
3. On the **SSH Access** page, under **Manage SSH Keys**, click **Manage SSH Keys**.
4. Click **Generate a New Key**.
5. Confirm the **Key Name** is set to **id\_rsa**.
6. In the **Key Password** and **Reenter Password** text boxes, type a password for the key. Alternatively, you can click **Password Generator** and cPanel generates a strong password for you.
7. Confirm the **Key Type** is set to **RSA**.
8. Confirm the **Key Size** is set to **2048**.
9. Click **Generate Key**. cPanel generates the public and private keys and saves them in the */home/username/.ssh* directory, where ***username*** represents your hosting.com account username.
10. Click **Go Back**.
11. Under **Public Keys**, locate the name of the key you just created. Under **Actions**, click **Manage**.
12. Click **Authorize**, and then click **Go Back**. To connect to your account using the new key, read **Connecting to your account using the SSH keys** below.
### Option #2: Importing an existing key
If you have already generated SSH keys for your account and want to re-use them, you can use cPanel to import them. To do this, follow these steps:
1. Log in to cPanel.
> π Note
>
> If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see [this article](/docs/accessing-cpanel).
2. On the **Tools** page, in the **Security** section, click **SSH Access**:\
3. On the **SSH Access** page, under **Manage SSH Keys**, click **Manage SSH Keys**.
4. Click **Import Key**.
5. In the **Choose a name for this key (defaults to id\_dsa)** text box, type the name for the key.
> π§ Important
>
> If your server runs OpenSSH version 7 or later, for security reasons you cannot use DSA keys. (To determine the OpenSSH version installed on your server, type **ssh -V** at the command prompt.) You should use RSA keys instead.
6. Under **Paste the public key into the following text box**, paste the text of the public key into the text box.
7. Click **Import**. cPanel imports the key.
8. Click **Back to Manage Keys**.
9. Under **Public Keys**, locate the name of the key you just imported. Under **Actions**, click **Manage**.
10. Click **Authorize**, and then click **Go Back**. To connect to your account using the new key, read **Connecting to your account using the SSH keys** below.
## Connecting to your account using the SSH keys
Use the appropriate procedure below for your computer's operating system.
### Windows operating systems
For computers running Microsoft Windows, you can use the PuTTY program to connect to your hosting.com account with SSH keys. Alternatively, Windows 10 includes a native SSH client that you can use, without the need to install and configure an additional program.
#### Using PuTTY
Before you can connect to your account, you must deploy the private key to your local computer (unless you imported a public key into cPanel, in which case you presumably already have the private key on your computer). To do this, follow these steps:
1. Log in to cPanel.
> π Note
>
> If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see [this article](/docs/accessing-cpanel).
2. On the **Tools** page, in the **Security** section, click **SSH Access**:\
3. On the **SSH Access** page, under **Manage SSH Keys**, click **Manage SSH Keys**.
4. On the **SSH Access** page, under **Private Keys**, locate the name of the key you created, and then click **View/Download**.
5. Under **Convert the "id\_rsa" key toΒ PPKΒ format**, click **Convert**. cPanel converts the key.
6. Click **Download Key**, and then save the *id\_rsa.ppk* file on your local computer. Make sure you note where the file is saved on your computer.
At this point, you have created the SSH key pair and deployed the private key to your local computer. You are now ready to configure the PuTTY client to connect to your SSH account using the private key.
The following procedure assumes that you have already downloaded and installed the PuTTY client. If you have not already done this, follow the PuTTY setup procedures in [this article](/docs/using-ssh-secure-shell) before proceeding.
To configure PuTTY to use your private key, follow these steps:
1. Start PuTTY.
2. In the **Category** pane, expand **SSH**, and then click **Auth**.
3. Under **Authentication Parameters**, click **Browse**.
4. Locate the *id\_rsa.ppk* file that you created in the previous procedure.
5. In the **Category** pane, click **Session**.
6. In the **Host Name (or IP address)** text box, type `username@example.com`. Replace ***username*** with your hosting.com username, and replace ***example.com*** with your site's domain name.
7. In the **Port** text box, type `22`.
> π Note
>
> Make sure you use the correct SSH port number for your account. For example, some types of hosting accounts use a different port for SSH, such as 7822.
8. Confirm that the **Connection type** radio button is set to **SSH**.
9. In the **Saved Sessions** text box, type a name for the connection. For example, type `My account`.
10. Click **Save**.
11. To connect to your SSH account, double-click the connection name in the list. PuTTY should connect without asking you to type your account password. If you set a passphrase for the key, however, you must type the key passphrase.
#### Using the native Windows SSH client
To use the built-in Windows 10 SSH client to connect to your account using a key, follow these steps:
1. Log in to cPanel.
> π Note
>
> If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see [this article](/docs/accessing-cpanel).
2. On the **Tools** page, in the **Security** section, click **SSH Access**:\
3. On the **SSH Access** page, under **Manage SSH Keys**, click **Manage SSH Keys**.
4. On the **SSH Access** page, under **Private Keys**, locate the name of the key you created, and then click **View/Download**.
5. Click **Download Key**, and then save the *id\_rsa* file on your local computer. You are now ready to start the SSH client and use the key.
> π§ Important
>
> Make sure you note where you save the file on your computer. To make the key file the default key file for SSH connections, save it in the *\Users\username.ssh* directory, where ***username*** represents your Windows username.
6. To open the **Run** dialog box, type `Windows key + r`.
7. In the **Run** dialog box, type `cmd` and then click **OK** to open a command prompt window.
8. At the command prompt, type the following command. Replace ***username*** with your hosting.com username, and replace ***example.com*** with your site's domain name:
```bash theme={null}
ssh username@example.com
```
> π§ Important
>
> * To use a different port number, use the **-p** option. For example:
>
> ```bash theme={null}
> ssh -p 7822 username@example.com
> ```
>
> * If you did not save the key file in the *\Users\username.ssh* directory in step 5, you must also specify the key file location. To do this, type the following command instead. Replace ***path*** with the path where you saved the key file in step 5:
>
> ```bash theme={null}
> ssh -i path username@example.com
> ```
9. If this is the first time you are connecting to the server, you receive a message about the key fingerprint. Type **yes** and then press Enter.
> π Note
>
> You do not receive this message on subsequent connection attempts.
10. When you are connected, the remote server's command line prompt appears:
```bash theme={null}
username@hostname [~]#
```
11. You can now run commands on the remote server. For example, to see a listing of the current directory, type `ls` and then press Enter.
12. To close the SSH connection when you are done, type `exit` and then press Enter.
13. To close the command prompt window, type `exit` and then press Enter.
### macOS and Linux operating systems
Before you can connect to your account, you must deploy the private key to your local computer (unless you imported a public key into cPanel, in which case you presumably already have the private key on your computer). To do this, follow these steps:
1. Log in to cPanel.
> π Note
>
> If you do not know how to log in to your cPanel account, please see [this article](/docs/accessing-cpanel).
2. On the **Tools** page, in the **Security** section, click **SSH Access**:\
3. On the **SSH Access** page, under **Manage SSH Keys**, click **Manage SSH Keys**.
4. On the **SSH Access** page, under **Private Keys**, locate the name of the key you created, and then click **View/Download**.
5. Click **Download Key**, and then save the *id\_rsa* file on your local computer in the */home/username/.ssh* directory. Replace ***username*** with your own username.
At this point, you have created the SSH key pair and deployed the private key to your local computer. You are now ready to connect to your SSH account using the keys.
To connect to your SSH account using the keys, follow these steps:
1. Open a terminal window. The procedure to do this depends on the operating system and desktop environment.
* On macOS, click **Applications**, click **Utilities**, and then click **Terminal**.
2. At the command prompt, type the following command. Replace ***username*** with your hosting.com username, and replace ***example.com*** with your site's domain name:
```bash theme={null}
ssh username@example.com
```
> π§ Important
>
> To use a different port number, use the **-p** option. For example:
>
> ```bash theme={null}
> ssh -p 7822 username@example.com
> ```
> π Tip
>
> In this command, we explicitly specify the port number, the username, and the hostname. However, you can also define the settings for a remote host in your *\~/.ssh/config* file as follows:
>
> ```
> Host example
> Hostname example.com
> Port 22
> User username
> ```
>
> The **Host** value can be any name you want; it is simply a label for the other settings. The **Hostname** value is the remote host you want to access, the port number is 22, and the **User** value specifies your hosting.com account username. With this configuration defined, you can connect to the account by simply using the **Host** value. You do not have to type the port number, username, and hostname each time. The following command demonstrates how to do this:
>
> ```bash theme={null}
> ssh example
> ```
3. The SSH client should connect without asking you to type your account password. If you set a passphrase for the key, however, you must type the key passphrase.
> π Tip
>
> If you are using a passphrase, you may not want to have to re-type it every time you connect to the remote server. If your computer has OpenSSH version 7.2 or later, you can automatically store the passphrase in the SSH authentication agent. (To determine the OpenSSH version installed on your computer, type **ssh -V** at the command prompt.) Then when you connect to the remote server, you must type the passphrase the first time, but not for any subsequent connections.\
> To do this, add the following lines to your *\~/.ssh/config* file:
>
> ```
> Host *
> AddKeysToAgent yes
> ```
>
> If you are using macOS, add the following line as well:
>
> ```
> UseKeychain yes
> ```
>
> Alternatively, if you have an older version of OpenSSH installed on your computer, you can type the **ssh-add** command to manually store the passphrase in the SSH authentication agent for the duration of your login session.
> π§ Important
>
> If your computer has OpenSSH version 8.8 or later, you may be unable to connect to the server. (To determine the OpenSSH version installed on your computer, type **ssh -V** at the command prompt.) This is because by default, OpenSSH 8.8 and later versions disable RSA signatures using the SHA-1 hash algorithm.\
> To enable RSA signatures with SHA-1 hashes so you can connect to the server, add the following lines to your *\~/.ssh/config* file:
>
> ```
> HostKeyAlgorithms +ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
> PubkeyAcceptedAlgorithms +ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
> ```
## Related articles
* [Using SSH (Secure Shell)](/docs/using-ssh-secure-shell)
* [Using SSH keys](/docs/using-ssh-keys)
* [Using SSHFS (Secure Shell Filesystem)](/docs/using-sshfs-secure-shell-filesystem)
* [Accessing cPanel](/docs/accessing-cpanel)